


Now Everything Is Easy Cause of You

by JamyPeraltiago



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Academy, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Alternative Universe - Police Academy, Bisexual Jake, F/M, M/M, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2018-12-02 19:24:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11515842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamyPeraltiago/pseuds/JamyPeraltiago
Summary: Jake Peralta moves in with his best friend Gina Linetti and her roommates Rosa Diaz and Amy Santiago - "temporarily," he insists. He spends time with Rosa and Amy as they start at the Police Academy, where they meet new friend Charles Boyle.It's not soon before Jake finds himself falling for his cute new roommate, Amy. But, is she falling for him too?





	1. New Temporary Home

“I promise, I’ll only be here for a month. Two, tops. Maybe three. But, probably no more than four – maybe,” Jake Peralta insisted as he unpacked his bags, placing his clothes into the dresser in the spare room in his best friend, Gina Linetti’s, apartment.

“Really Jakey, it’s fine. I’d love it if you stayed here forever,” Gina replied, lounging on the bed, making absolutely no effort to help Jake unpack his bags. “It’d be cool to live with someone who’s normal.”

“Your roommates can’t be that bad.”

“Rosa’s cool, but a little scary. And she sometimes has a bit of a hot temper,” Gina explained. “But Amy…Amy’s a straight up nerd. God, she’s so lame.”

Jake rolled his eyes. He loved Gina. They grew up together and he thought of her as a sister. But, she was quite eccentric and often self-involved. He knew to take her opinions of her roommates with a grain of salt. “Anyways…” he continued, “when do I get to meet them?”

“They should be back from the gym any minute now,” Gina said. She paused before adding, “You know what? You might actually get along with them. They’re both training to be cops like you. 

“Really?”

Gina nodded as she jumped off the bed and headed out the room without saying a word. Jake shook his head in amusement and continued to unpack. He looked around the room, taking in the place that was going to be his new temporary home. The room was small but cozy. He had fit in his full-size bed, dresser, and one massage chair, with little room for anything else. He’d already hung up his _Die Hard_ posters on the light blue walls, and laid out his dark blue and gray striped comforter that he’d had since high school out on the bed. For someplace that he planned on only being temporary, it was turning out to be a decent place to crash for the time being. 

Now that Jake was going to be starting at the Police Academy, his mother had decided it was time for him to move out, to get a life of his own. She didn’t give him much time to find a new place before she started packing up his childhood room and turning it into a home gym. He was lucky that Gina had a vacant room in her apartment and that her roommates were cool enough to let a guy they never met before live with them. His plan was to stay here just until he found a more permanent place to live, maybe with some guys that he’d meet at the Academy. 

As he finished unpacking his last bag, he heard the front door open and slam shut. He figured the other roommates were home now. He left the room and walked down the hall to meet the two women he’d be living wit

Sprawled out on the living floor, only a few inches away from the front door, he saw a tall Latina woman with dark curly hair, moaning. She looked angry as she took long, deep breaths.

“Hey, I’m Jake,” he introduced himself. The women on the floor groaned in acknowledgement, but didn’t offer her own name in return. Jake looked around the room to find his other new roommate, but didn’t see anyone. Instead, he heard someone yelling out from the kitchen.

“I think we’ll be fine with our mile time and we’ve got push-ups down. But, Rosa, you have to work on your sit-ups. And we both could do with more studying of laws and codes.”

Jake followed the voice, that was now reciting police codes, into the kitchen. He saw the back of a slender woman, slightly shorter than him, with long black hair pulled into a tight ponytail, as she dug through the refrigerator.

“10-84…10-84… shoot, what is 10-84?” she mumbled to herself.

“Arrived at scene,” Jake answered. 

The woman jerked up, hitting her head on the freezer door above her. She turned around, rubbing her head where she hit it, a bottle of water in her other hand.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Jake apologized.

“It’s okay, I’m fine,” she said, shrugging it off. “You must be Jake. I’m Amy.”

“Nice to meet you.” Jake stuck his hand out to her and she shook it. When she released his hand, she took a step back and smiled at him. Jake smiled back, noticing that she had a very pretty smile.

“Have you met Rosa?” she asked before taking a long sip of water.

“Yeah, she was dying on the living room floor.”

Amy laughed. “Yeah, I’ve been pushing her kind of hard. But, she’ll thank me when she’s in better shape than everyone else at the Academy.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Jake argued, playfully boasting. “I’m in pretty decent shape. I’ll give you a run for your money.”

Amy looked him up and down with a straight face. She smiled mischievously as she stepped forward and poked Jake in the stomach, in the little bit of pudge that he was a little self-conscious about. She teased, “You sure about that?” before walking out of the kitchen.

Jake turned around as he watched her walk away. He smiled as she turned around and stuck out her tongue at him, his stomach somersaulting.

…

To welcome Jake to his new (temporary, he maintained) home, Gina insisted that they all go out drinking. Gina, Amy, and Rosa took Jake to their favorite local bar, Shaw’s. They ordered beers and gathered in a large booth in the back of the bar. Rosa and Amy begged to hear stories of Jake and Gina’s childhood, and they responded by telling embarrassing story after embarrassing story about the other one. After Gina told the story about how Jake was dumped at his Bar Mitzvah, for another guy, he implored them to stop. He pretended to be offended, pouting as he got up to buy them another round of drinks.

“Sorry. Are you really upset?” Amy asked as she joined him at the bar, looking genuinely concerned.

Jake looked down at her and smiled. He shook his head. “No, of course not.”

“Good,” she replied, smiling back at him. 

They stood at the bar, patiently waiting for the bartender to take their order, occasionally smiling at each other and giggling.

“Hey, losers,” Jake heard a voice calling out from behind him. He broke eye contact with Amy and turned around, coming face-to-face with Gina. Jake rolled his eyes, lovingly, as Gina continued, “Rosa and I met some guys,” – she gestured to two good looking guys talking to Rosa, - “and we’re going to go to another bar with them.”

“Be careful,” Jake cautioned, planting a kiss on Gina’s head before she walked off to join Rosa and left the bar.

“They do this often?” Jake asked, turning back to Amy.

Amy shrugged. “Not that often. Gina tries to ditch me sometimes but Rosa never does. She probably only did it tonight because I’m with you.”

Jake nodded and turned his attention back to the bar. After a few moments, the bartender finally noticed them. “Two beers,” Jake ordered.

“And two shots of whiskey,” Amy added.

Jake looked at Amy and raised his eyebrows.

“We’re celebrating,” she explained, taking the shots that the bartender had placed in front of them, and handing one of them to Jake. She clinked her glass to his and said, “To you moving in,” before throwing back her shot. Jake grinned and threw back his shot as well.  

They sat at the bar and drank their beers, talking about why they wanted to be cops and how prepared (and excited) they were for the academy. They ordered another round and moved over to darts. Jake laughed at how horrible Amy’s aim was, his stomach flipping and his heart racing when she punched him in the arm for laughing at her.

“Another round?” Jake asked as Amy took the last sip of her beer.

She shook her head. “I’m ready to go home, maybe watch the best cop movie ever…?”

“ _Die Hard_!” Jake exclaimed excitedly.

Amy gave Jake a quizzical look. “No, _Fargo_.”

Jake spent the walk home trying to persuade Amy that _Die Hard_ was the best movie, but she refused to accept it.

“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” Amy stated as they entered the apartment. “We’ll just have to watch both movies, back-to-back.” 

“Sounds good to me,” Jake said. He ran to his room to retrieve his copy of _Die Hard_ while Amy put _Fargo_ in the Blu-ray player.

As they watched the first movie, Jake pointed out all the reasons that _Fargo_ was not a great cop movie, while Amy argued why he was wrong. 

“Let’s not argue during this movie,” Amy suggested as _Fargo_ ended, before they put in _Die Hard_.

“Because you know I’m right: it’s the best cop movie ever,” Jake said. Amy responded by rolling her eyes.

As they watched _Die Hard_ , Jake could feel himself growing tired. He tried to fight it, but eventually drifted off to sleep. He woke with a start, confused about where he was. It was dark and unfamiliar. He took a deep breath, but felt a heavy weight constricting the movement of his chest. He jerked his head to the right and saw the Blu-ray logo bouncing across the TV screen. Feeling more confused, he squinted to look at the time on the Blu-ray player, which read 3:17. Jake turned his attention back to the strange weight resting on his chest. In the dim light emitting off the TV, he could make out dark wavy hair flowing down the back of a woman’s back.

It suddenly all came back to him: he and Amy had been watching movies and obviously they had fallen asleep. While sleeping, they seemed to have cuddled together, Amy laying on top of Jake. To Jake, this felt comfortable. However, he had only known Amy for about 12 hours, and he realized that she might not be comfortable with this sleeping arrangement. Jake tried to gently wake up Amy, hoping he wouldn’t startle her. She slowly woke up. Upon seeing Jake though, she jumped back, quickly getting off of him.

“Sorry about that,” she said.

“It’s no problem,” Jake assured her. “Have Gina and Rosa come home?”

Amy shrugged and picked up her phone. “No. Rosa texted me. She and Gina went home with those guys. They’ll be back in the morning.”

“Cooooooooooooool. Cool, cool, cool, cool,” Jake responded.

He sat there in an awkward silence with Amy.

“Well, I guess I should head into my own room,” Amy finally said.

“Yeah, me too.”

Amy sat for a second and opened her mouth. Jake thought she was about to say something, but she closed her mouth and got up without making any other comments. Jake watched her as she walked down the hall and entered her room. He waited a second and then shut off the Blu-ray player. He headed down the hall and into his own room. He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into his bed, knowing that he would be settling into a restless night.

…

After what seemed like only a few minutes of sleep, Jake was awoken by a loud knocking on his bedroom door. He looked at the time on his phone and saw that it was only 8:00am, much too early to be awake on a Saturday. He groaned as the knocking continued. Rolling out of his bed, he slumped over to the door. Opening it up, he came face-to-face with Amy. As she took him in, her eyes grew wide and her face grew bright red. Jake realized that he was only wearing boxers. He looked down, blushing himself, as he became aware of the tent in his boxers. Jake covered himself with his hands and cleared his throat.

 “Um…I came to invite you to work out with me and Rosa,” Amy said, avoiding Jake’s eyes by looking at her feet.

Jake nodded. “Yeah, just give me a moment to get dressed,” he responded quietly. He closed the door, quickly getting dressed, and joined Amy and Rosa, who were waiting for them in the living room.

They walked to the gym and got started right away on their workout, Amy instructing everyone on what to do, how many reps to do, what weight to use. They ended their workout with a long run down to the river and back to their apartment. As they cooled down with water in front of the AC unit, Amy continued on about their routine, trying to plan out how to spend their last week before the academy started.

Not once did Amy mention falling asleep in Jake’s arms. And he wasn’t about to bring it up either.


	2. First Day of the Acacdemy

For the next week, Jake and Rosa followed Amy’s strict schedule in preparation for the start of their Academy training: workouts in the morning, afternoons spent studying, and evening runs. Despite the arduous routine Amy had him on, Jake was enjoying this time because it meant that he was spending a lot of time with Amy. The more time that he spent with her, the more he found that he liked her. He admired her work ethic, her determination, her intelligence. He liked that she was unapologetically nerdy, and that she was so passionate about everything police-related.

As much as Jake found himself liking Amy, romantic-stylez, he decided that he wasn’t going to act upon these feelings. For one, she showed no signs of having feelings for him. Second, even if she did like him, romantically, they were roommates and were going to be at the Academy together. It would be inappropriate, not to mention risky, for them to start anything romantic.

And so, he continued on, pretending that he thought of Amy only platonically.

... 

Finally, their first day at the Academy arrived. Jake woke up in a panic. He’d barely slept the night before, his nerves causing him to toss and turn in the rare moments that he actually managed to fall asleep in the first place. He’d been sweating all night and now was sticking to his sheets. He peeled back the sheets and stumbled out of bed.

After getting dressed Jake went to the kitchen, where he found Rosa and Amy sitting on stools at the kitchen island. Amy clutched at mug full of coffee, her legs shaking as she sat, ignoring the mug in her hand. Rosa was eating a large bowl of cinnamon crunch toast cereal, not seeming to be acting differently than any other morning. Jake nodded and grabbed a bowl from the cabinet before joining his roommates at the island. He picked up the box of cinnamon crunch toast and poured himself a bowl. Without adding any milk, he picked up a piece of dry cereal with his fingers and nibbled on it, each tiny bite making him feel nauseous. After spending ten minutes on three pieces of cereal, Jake realized he was too nervous to keep any food down. He waited patiently for Rosa and Amy to finish their breakfasts and then the three of them left for their first day.

Within the first hour, Jake began to realize how much Amy’s tenacity in the past week was going to benefit him – he was very grateful that Amy had pushed him so hard the past week. They had just finished a five-mile run and he was breathing heavily, his hands resting on the back of his head as he tried to open up his airways. He was dripping in sweat and aching. He did feel good about the fact that he had outperformed two-thirds of the recruits. He only regretted that he hadn’t started on Amy’s rigorous schedule sooner. While he was performing well, there were still a number of recruits that were succeeding above and beyond Jake’s capabilities. He was comforted by the fact that Amy and Rosa seemed to be in the same physical shape as him.

When they started working on the non-physical aspects of the job, Jake was not surprised to see that Amy blew the rest of the recruits away. The only other person who knew a great deal about the academic parts of the job was a very dull guy named Teddy Wells. Jake could tell that this guy was boring and lame, and not someone he wanted to become friends with.

When lunchtime rolled around, Jake joined Amy and Rosa at a table in the cafeteria, trays full of questionable food in front of them.

“Is this supposed to be edible?” Jake asked as he poked at a mush of something orange-brown, that he assumed was mashed sweet potatoes, though he couldn’t be 100% sure.

“Yeah, the Academy isn’t known for their food options,” a small man eagerly stated as he stood at the end of the table. “I love food, and I just don’t know if I can put my taste buds through the horror of this food for the next six months.”

Rosa glared at the guy angrily, befuddled by the words coming out of his mouth. Amy crinkled up her nose and then smiled in an attempt to be polite. Jake, on the other hand, was amused by this strange little man.

“Do you want to join us?” Jake asked.

“Sure,” the new guy exclaimed. “I’m Charles Boyle,” he introduced as he put his tray down and took up the spot next to Jake. 

Jake, Rosa, and Amy all introduced themselves. The four new friends spent the rest of their lunch hour talking about their initial thoughts about the Academy, each one seemingly experiencing completely different experiences. Charles was just excited to be there, to have made it into the Academy. Amy was stressing out, convinced she wasn’t good enough. Rosa complained about the stupidity of their fellow recruits. Jake feigned confidence, even though, on the inside, he was feeling just as, if not more, stressed as Amy was.   

As they moved into afternoon training, the four of them stuck together, partnering up in strength training activities, running together in a pack, and helping each other out with academic questions (well, really, it was Amy giving the rest of them answers).

For the rest of the week, the four of them stuck together, having each other’s back and building friendships.


	3. Party

“We should do something to blow off steam tonight, and celebrate making it through our first week at the Academy” Jake suggested to Rosa, Amy and Charles as they ate lunch together on the first Friday of their first week.

“Like go out for sausages?” Charles said.

“No,” Jake stated flatly. Jake was learning that Charles had an unconventional taste in food. And, that he was a little awkward, though he owned his awkwardness. Jake still found that he liked Charles and wanted to be friends, despite his peculiarities. “I mean like get drunk. Party.”

“Yes. We should totally get drunk tonight,” Rosa chimed in, agreeing with Jake. “But where?”

“We could just do it at our apartment,” Amy suggested. “And we could invite some of the other trainees. You know, make some friends outside of our circle.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Rosa said. “I like you nerds, but it’s good to have other friends, too.”

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, the four of them mentioned to some of the others at the Academy that they would be having a party at their place. Many other trainees were receptive, even a bit excited for a chance to get to know each other and let loose.

As they gathered their things at the end of the day, Jake noticed Amy talking to Teddy, the guy he deemed to be boring on their first day. He felt an ache in his stomach. that he recognized as jealousy, as he watched Amy and Teddy laughing. He hoped that Amy wasn’t inviting Teddy to their party. He doubted that he’d be able to have any real fun if he had to spend all night watching Amy flirt with another guy.

“You invite Teddy?” Jake asked Amy as they walked out the door, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“Yeah, is that cool?” Amy replied.

“Yeah. Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.”

Amy raised an eyebrow as she looked at Jake and nodded once, slowly. He smiled and looked away. They walked the rest of the way home in silence.

But, of course, Jake wasn’t cool with it.

…

Gina was thrilled that they were going to be throwing a party. (Her actual response was, “Yes, you lame-o’s are finally being normal and cool for once.”) She insisted that she could exploit the fact that the guy at the liquor store was in love with her in order to get them a good discount on alcohol. “I’ll just agree to marry him and we’ll get 75% off cheap rum, vodka and tequila,” she claimed.

“Don’t get engaged again,” Jake warned her. “Five engagements is five too many for a woman who’s never actually been engaged to a man she’s loved.”

“Engaged, but never married,” Gina retorted. “If I don’t actually get married, there’s no harm.”

Jake decided it was best to just go with Gina to the store, just in case. She was about to accept an engagement ring when Jake gave her his disappointed look. She politely denied the proposal, but was still able to talk her way into a 50% discount.

“You’re unbelievable,” Jake commented, as they walked back to the apartment.

“You know you love me,” Gina teased. “And I know who else you love…”

Jake played dumb and didn’t say anything. He didn’t know how Gina could possibly know that he liked Amy. He did his best to keep things platonic.

“Amy…” Gina finally said, annoyed by Jake’s silence.

“Nope,” Jake replied, denying anything.

“Puh-lease.” Gina rolled her eyes. “I saw it that first night. The look you were giving her. The way your body was turned to her, suggesting that you wanted to see her naked. Everything you do just screams that you like Amy in a very non-roommate way.”

Jake remained silent, knowing that anything he said would give it away. Not that it even mattered. Gina knew him well enough to know who he was crushing on.

“You can’t hide anything from me, Jakey.”

And she was right about that.

…

Charles came over early to pregame with Jake before the party. They sat in the living room drinking beers while the girls got ready in Gina’s room.

“So, you hoping to hook up with anyone tonight?” Charles asked.

Jake shook his head no, even though there was someone he wanted to hook up with – Amy. But, if he wasn’t going to act on those feelings, there was no reason to admit it to Charles.

Charles raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “Really? Not even Amy?”

Jake huffed in annoyance and took a large gulp of his beer. “Why does everyone think I like Amy,” he angry whispered.

“Because you do.”

Jake slammed down his beer bottle, the last bit of beer flying out of the bottle and spilling out onto the coffee table. He stood up and stormed off to the kitchen for a new beer. He grabbed a new bottle from the fridge, opened it, and took a large drink from it, downing a quarter of the bottle. Jake paced back and forth, eventually walking right into Charles who had followed him into the room.

Jake sighed. “Alright, fine, I like her.”

“Yes,” Charles squealed.

“But…” Jake cut off Charles’ squeals, “I’m not going to do anything about it.”

“Jakey, why not?” Charles moaned.

“Because, we’re roommates. We go to the Academy together. We might be colleagues one day. And, most importantly, because she hasn’t shown any interest in me,” Jake explained.

“Oh, Jake, Jake, Jake,” Charles said. “She definitely likes you.”

Jake shook his head, not giving a second thought to Charles’ claim. He really doubted that Amy felt anything romantic-stylez towards him. He leaned back on the kitchen counter and took another drink of his beer, ignoring the overeager, knowing looks Charles was giving him.

“Party!” Gina cried out as she entered the kitchen, a bottle of tequila in her hand.

Rosa and Amy trailed in behind her. Jake was blown away by how beautiful Amy was looking. She was wearing tight black jeans that hugged her curves and a red crop top with long sleeves that fell off her shoulders. Her make-up was done naturally and her hair was blown out in soft curls. Amy looked at Jake and smiled and his stomach somersaulted. His skin felt like electricity as hers touched his when she leaned up against the counter next to his.

“You look nice,” he whispered, soft enough just for her to hear.

“Thanks,” Amy whispered back, tucking her hair behind her ears.

Jake could see Charles beaming out of the corner of his eye, and turned to avoid his gaze. The last thing he wanted was for his friend to say or do something stupid, revealing to his roommates that he liked Amy.

…

Jake was pleasantly surprised by the turnout at the party. He was even more surprised to see so many future cops getting plastered and acting stupid. It was an unusual sight – seeing a group of people who were committing to a career to serve and protect the people and to uphold the law, guzzling beer bongs, shot-gunning cans of beer, doing body shots of tequila, making out with random people in a stranger’s home. At one point, Jake thought he had even smelled some pot.

The party got so big, that some of their neighbors in their apartment building even showed up. When Rosa questioned where these people came from, Gina replied that she had gone “door-to-door informing the neighbors of a rager in apartment 5D.”

 Jake spent a lot of time talking (maybe even flirting, if he was being honest with himself) with Amy. She made him laugh and he enjoyed making her laugh, watching the way her eyes crinkled up and hearing her sweet cackle. He found ways to touch her, without being creepy or inappropriate – grazing her arm as he walked past her, giving her a high five after she downed an entire beer in the bong, hugging her when they won a round of beer pong. A few times he caught Charles staring at them, giving Jake a thumbs up, but each time, Jake shot Charles back a warning look until Charles walked away.   

Jake tried to make an effort to get to know some of his colleagues from the Academy. However, his eyes kept searching the room, trying to spot Amy, feeling disappointed when he saw her talking to someone else, especially Teddy. He hated that he felt jealous – he had no right to be. But still, he just couldn’t help it.

By one o’clock in the morning, there was only a handful of guest left, including (unfortunately, thought Jake), Teddy.

The four roommates, Charles, Teddy, two guys from the Academy Jake had been getting along with really well, Dave and Stevie, and a few of their neighbors, Sophia (a woman a few years older than Jake who was just starting out her law career), Genevieve (a young woman focusing on her art), and Taylor (a college drop-out and somewhat ditsy guy who managed an arcade), were all hanging out in the living room, talking and drinking. Jake was feeling slightly tipsy, and very happy.

“Let’s play spin the bottle,” suggested a slightly-drunk Gina, who was slumped in an armchair in the living room, one leg thrown over the armrest, one leg stretched out onto the floor, hugging the now empty bottle of tequila.

“I’m in,” said Dave, with a shrug. Jake’s first impression of Dave was that he just oozed coolness. At the Academy, Dave was already proving that he was going to be a great detective – outperforming everyone physically and within the top five in terms of the academic side of the police work. He was always dressed so cool, effortlessly cool, in his Henley shirts and leather jacket. He was friendly without being in-your-face outgoing. And he seemed down to do anything, always being the one to volunteer to be the guinea pig in models at the Academy or joining any group heading out to the bar. Jake wasn’t sure if he wanted to be Dave, or date him.

“Yeah, whatever,” sang out Stevie. Out of everyone that Jake met at the Academy, Stevie was the most like him – goofy, easy-going, always looking to have a good time. Jake had been getting along pretty well so far with Stevie – they even already had a few raps made-up for different situations that they often found themselves in (a rap for running, a rap for doing pull-ups, a rap for police codes). Jake didn’t feel as strong of a friendship with Stevie as he had with Charles, but he still thought that Stevie was a cool guy to hang out with.

As Dave and Stevie joined Gina, forming a circle on the floor, the rest of the gang also sat down in the circle, no one wanting to look like the pathetic, boring one who wouldn’t join in. Jake found himself in between Taylor and Sophia, straight across from Amy. He tried not to stare at her, but found this hard to accomplish as she was sitting right in his line of vision.

“I’ll go first,” offered Gina as she placed the empty tequila bottle on the floor in the middle of the circle, giving it a hard spin. The bottle landed on Charles, and Gina cringed as Charles leaned over to give her a quick peck on the lips.

“My turn now?” Charles asked eagerly, not waiting for a response before he spun the bottle that eventually landed on Genevieve, who seemed excited to kiss Charles.

And so, the bottle kept spinning – Genevieve kissing Taylor, Taylor kissing Rosa, Rosa kissing Sophia, Sophia kissing Dave, Dave kissing Teddy, Teddy kissing Gina, Gina kissing Rosa, and on and on.

One of Sophia’s spins landed on Jake and he enjoyed kissing her, noticing that, aside from Amy, she was the prettiest woman in the room. Jake spun and landed on Dave and he was split between feeling excited to kiss Dave and disappointed that it wasn’t Amy. He felt relieved when Amy spun and it looked like the bottle might stop on Teddy, but instead kept going just past him, landing on Rosa instead.   

After landing on one another for the fourth time, and each kiss lasting longer (and getting grosser, in Jake’s opinion), Charles and Genevieve finally decided to head back to her place. Their departure signaled the end of the game for everyone else. Sophia and Taylor headed back to their apartments, while Stevie, Dave and Teddy decided to have one last round at the bar down the street. With no more guests left at their place, Rosa decided to head to her “fuck-buddy,” Adrien’s, place, and Gina left to meet up with her secret hook-up, leaving Jake and Amy alone to clean up.

“So that was fun,” Jake said as he gathered empty beer cans and liquor bottles into a clear trash bag for recycling.

“Yeah, I’m glad we did it,” Amy said as she threw solo cups and other trash into a large black trash bag. “It was fun getting to know some of the other Academy cadets better.”

Jake gulped and nodded, unable to shake the thought that Amy was speaking of Teddy in particular. “Yeah,” Jake finally replied, quietly.

They finished up collecting trash and recycling in silence. Jake took the bags down to the basement while Amy quickly wiped down all the surfaces.

“Looks good,” Jake said as Amy collected the used paper towels and threw them in the kitchen garbage bin.

“Mhm,” Amy responded, not even trying to cover up her yawning. “I need to go to bed now.”

Jake nodded and walked down the hallway towards the bedrooms with Amy.

“Night,” he said softly when they reached Amy’s room.

“Night,” she replied and turned away into her bedroom. Jake took the few steps to his room and then heard Amy call out to him.

“Yeah?” he asked, turning around.

He had barely finished turning around before Amy had him up against the wall, pressing her lips onto his. Stunned by her actions, it took Jake a moment to realize what was happening, but he eventually responded, cupping her face with one hand, running his other hand up her back to her neck, pushing his fingers into her hair. She grabbed at his hair with both hands. Jake’s stomach hadn’t even finished its gymnastics routine before Amy pulled away and backed up.

“What was that for?” Jake gasped, trying to catch his breath.

Amy shrugged, blushing. “I was upset that we didn’t get to kiss during spin-the-bottle.”

And with that, she spun on her heel and went into her room, closing the door behind her, leaving Jake stunned in the hallway.


	4. Aftermath

Jake laid wide awake in his bed, replaying the scene in the hallway last night in his head over and over again. He had kissed Amy. Or, more accurately, Amy had kissed him, practically forced herself on him, not that he was complaining.

Thinking about kissing Amy commenced the gymnastics routine in his stomach.  He could still feel the softness of her lips on his and the smooth skin of the back of her neck as he slipped his hand up into her silky, soft hair. He could still smell the intoxicating scent of her lavender shampoo mixed with the rum and cokes she’d been drinking all night. He could still taste her coconut and pear Chapstick on his tongue as he had slipped his tongue into her mouth, however briefly it had been. He could still hear her humming sweetly into his mouth as they kissed. He could still see her kind expression as she broke the kiss, before she headed into her room for the night.

Of course, he was overthinking the kiss. Absolutely, he was excited about it. He had been attracted to Amy since the moment he laid eyes on her. But, they had been a little drunk last night. He thought the best explanation for Amy’s actions were her intoxication. He blamed his low self-esteem on his inability to believe, still, that Amy was actually interested in him.

Realizing that the only way he would be able to stop overanalyzing the kiss was to talk to Amy about it, he decided to get out of bed and actually talk to her. Whether it meant something to her or not, he wouldn’t be able to relax until he knew for sure.

He pulled on a pair of shorts and left his room, slowly making his way towards Amy’s room. He hesitated, not sure if he really wanted to talk to her about the kiss. After standing at her door for several seconds, arm up, ready to knock, he backed away, dropping his arm at his side. He paused, struggling with what to do. He walked up to her door again, stopping his fist an inch before he tapped it on the door, and backed away yet again. Taking a deep breath, hoping this would summon his courage, he walked up to the door again, fist ready to rap on the door, just as it opened.

“Ahh,” Amy yelped, jumping back as Jake, startled by the sudden appearance of Amy in her doorway, also jumped back.

“Ssss-sss-sorry,” Jake stammered.

“S’okay,” Amy slurred, stifling a yawn and rubbing her right eye with the back of her hand, clearly having just woken up. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Jake dismissed, turning and starting to walk away.

“Did you want to talk about last night?” Amy asked.

Jake stopped in his tracks, gulping. He suddenly felt very nervous, his hands clamming up with sweat. He gradually turned around to face Amy. She nodded to her room and Jake followed her in, closing the door behind them.

“So…” Amy started as she took a seat at the foot of her bed.

“So…” Jake repeated, leaning against Amy’s desk, facing her, only a few feet separating them.

“We kissed.” Amy stated.

“We did indeed,” Jake confirmed. He looked intensely at Amy, trying to see any sign of how she was feeling. She had a straight face, hiding any emotion, which only made Jake more nervous. He tapped his fingers on the desk behind him, impatiently waiting for Amy to say something. He watched her take a deep breath, noticing how her chest rose and fell back down slowly.

“I think we should just be friends.”

It was as if the world came crashing down around him as heard those words; those words that he had so desperately _not_ wanted to hear, those words that meant that his feelings for Amy were unrequited. He blinked and gulped, his throat closing up at his disappointment.

“Yeah, yeah. Of course.” Jake looked down at the floor, avoiding Amy’s gaze.

“It’s just that, we live together,” Amy continued. “It was just an innocent kiss between two drunken friends. Looking at it as anything more than that could potentially hurt our friendship, which I don’t want to do.”

“Yeah, no, me neither,” Jake said. He looked up at her and smiled, trying his best not to show his disappointment. Amy didn’t want to be anything more than friends and he had to respect that, no matter how he felt about it.

“Well, I don’t know about you but I’m starving. Breakfast?” Jake asked, wanting to change the subject immediately and to get out of Amy’s room.

“Sounds good,” Amy replied. 

“Great, I’ll make eggs.”


	5. Date Night

Another week at the Academy had gone by and Jake was feeling more confident. His mile time was decreasing, his sit-up and push-up numbers were increasing, and he was improving academically.

As great as he was feeling in the professional aspect of his life, he was feeling pretty miserable regarding the personal aspects of his life. Knowing what it was like to kiss Amy, and not being able to do it again, was torture. Every time she sat too close to him at the bar, every time she cheered him on in activities at the Academy, every time she asked him to join her at the gym or invited him to watch TV with her, all he could think about was what it would be like to kiss her again. More than anything, Jake wanted to just grab her and kiss her, long and passionately. He wanted to kiss her to express everything that he was unable to say. He hated that he felt this way. She wanted to be friends, and he was respecting that, as hard as it was for him.

…

Jake leaned against the wall, scrolling through Facebook on his phone as he waited for Rosa and Amy to come out of the women’s locker room. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw them exiting the locker room. He looked up and nodded at them, pushing himself off the wall and putting his phone away in his front jeans pocket.

“Hey,” he called out as they got closer to him. “Ready to go?”

“Yup,” Rosa responded.

“Just one sec,” Amy said, turning her head and waving at someone on her right. Jake looked over at who she was waving at, disappointed to see Teddy.

“Hi Amy,” Teddy said, joining the group. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Jake’s stomach dropped as he watched Amy walk away with Teddy.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” he said quietly to Rosa, not taking his eyes off of Amy, who was laughing at something Teddy said.

“Why do you care?” Rosa grunted.

Jake shrugged.

“Do you care so much ‘cause you like Amy?”

Jake’s eyes widened and he whipped his head around to look at Rosa. “What?” he exclaimed.

“You. Like. Amy.” Rosa declared slowly.

“No, I…” Jake started before being cut off by Rosa.

“Don’t even bother trying to deny it. I can tell just by watching you two together. Plus, Gina told me.”

Jake hung his head and breathed in slowly through his nose, focusing on the rising and falling of his chest as he did so. He silently cursed Gina’s big mouth. He looked back up at Rosa who was staring at him, amazingly expressing both amusement and concern. He lightly grabbed her upper arm and dragged her off to the side, away from everyone else who was leaving for the night. “Yeah, I like her. But nothing’s going to happen – she just wants to be friends.”

“Well, you don’t know that,” Rosa said.

Jake shook his head. “Yeah, she told me.”

Rosa looked at Jake with one eyebrow raised, intrigued by his response. Jake sighed and confessed everything to Rosa, from falling asleep together on the couch that first night to the kiss to their discussion after the party a week ago.

“Bummer,” Rosa said, once Jake finished telling her everything. “Well, if you want to get over her, you just need to get under someone else.”

Jake scrunched his eyes and frowned, confused by Rosa’s response.

“Just bone someone else,” Rosa explained. “If you want to get Amy out of your mind, you just need a good fling or two.”

“Okay. Okay, okay, okay,” Jake responded, not entirely convinced that Rosa’s strategy for getting over Amy was the best idea, but willing to try anything. “But, with who?”

Rosa shrugged. “Our neighbor Sophia seemed pretty into you. And I think you’ve got an admirer here,” Rosa said, gesturing to her right with her head.

Jake followed the direction her head was pointing and saw Dave staring at him. Dave nodded at Jake and Jake nodded back.  Dave made his way over to Jake and Rosa. “Hey Peralta. Diaz.”

“Hey,” said Jake.

“Sup,” said Rosa.

“So, Peralta,” Dave said, turning to look directly at Jake. “I belong to this member-only speakeasy. I can bring a guest. You wanna join me tonight?”

Jake stared at Dave, his jaw hanging open, unable to respond. Was Dave asking him out? Did Dave like him as more than just a friend? Did _he_ like Dave as something more than just a friend? Jake didn’t know what to say. Jake felt Rosa’s pointy elbow nudging his side, prompting him to respond to Dave.  “Yeah,” Jake squeaked out. He cleared his throat and, responding more naturally and calmly, said, “Yeah. Sounds cool.”

“Great. I’ll text you the details.”

Jake and Dave exchanged numbers and Dave was on his way, just as Amy walked over to rejoin Jake and Rosa.

“I have a date tonight!” Amy announced, hesitantly.

“So does Jake,” Rosa replied as the three of them made their way outside to walk home.

“It’s not a date,” Jake argued. “At least, I don’t think it is.”

“It’s a date,” Rosa decided.

Jake looked cautiously at Amy out of the side of his eye, not wanting her to know that he was looking at her. He was trying to determine her reaction to his news that he had a date. The news that she had a date was killing him inside. She seemed to be avoiding looking at him, which made him wonder even more if she cared that he had a date with someone else.

…

Jake looked himself up and down in the mirror. He’d decided on a pair of dark, slim-fit jeans, a red and black plaid button-down shirt, his leather jacket, and a pair of black Adidas sneakers. He ran his hands through his hair, recognizing that there wasn’t anything he could do about it – the curls prevented it from being styled any differently. He took a deep breath, feeling excited and nervous about his non-date date with Dave (he wasn’t sure if it actually was a date – if it was, he was excited about it, but if it wasn’t, he wasn’t going to be disappointed).

A knock came from Jake’s door. “Come in,” he yelled out, not taking his eyes off himself.

He heard the door open and someone walking into his room. “You look nice.”

Jake turned around and saw Amy taking a seat at the edge of his bed. He gulped, his breath taken away by her beauty. She was wearing a black, sleeveless A-line dress, and a pair of black strappy heels. Her hair was clipped on one side so that all her wavy curls fell over her left shoulder. Aside from her smoky eyes, she was wearing minimal make-up. “Thanks. You look nice too.”

“Thanks,” Amy replied, blushing.

Jake watched her for a moment. She was avoiding his eyes, looking down at her feet. “So, what’s up?” he asked.

“I just…I wanted to…I…Never mind,” Amy stuttered, standing up and turning to the door.

Jake hurried over to the door, blocking Amy’s exit. “What’s up Ames?” he asked again.

Amy sighed. “Are you okay with me going on a date with Teddy?”

Jake gulped, surprised that Amy was asking him this. He stared at her, rendered speechless by his confusion. He was jealous, certainly, but he had no right to be. Amy only wanted to be friends with him. She didn’t owe him anything; she was free to date whoever she wanted to date.

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” he stammered.

Amy sighed in relief. “Ok, good.” She smiled up at Jake. “So, you have a date tonight, too?”

Jake rolled his eyes and shook his head. “It’s not a date.” Amy put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows, smirking slightly. “It might be a date,” Jake conceded.

“Well, I’m happy for you,” she said with a smile. She walked past Jake and he continued to watch her as she left. She turned back around and said, “Have fun,” before leaving his room.

…

Jake stood in front of a building that appeared to be abandoned. He pulled his phone out, checking that this was the address Dave had said to meet him at for the tenth time. He confirmed, yet again that he was at the right address, and put his phone back in his jacket pocket. He peered down the street to the left and the right, looking for Dave. Not seeing any sign of him, Jake started pacing back and forth in front of the building.

“Jake,” a voice called out, causing him to jump. He spun around and saw Dave approaching him.     

“Hey,” Jake responded.

Dave reached Jake and held his hand out. Jake slapped his hand into Dave’s awaiting palm and Dave pulled him in closer, patting him on the back quickly, before releasing Jake from his grip.

“Shall we go in?”

Jake nodded and followed Dave as he walked towards the abandoned building. Dave knocked on a door and a tiny window slid open, revealing a pair of bright blue eyes. Dave whispered a word, too quiet for Jake to hear what he was saying, and the door opened up. Dave stepped to the side, allowing Jake to enter first.

Jake walked in and was met with a low murmur of talking and music playing, quiet enough for a conversation to be held without yelling, something that was rare to find in Brooklyn. There was a bar along the entire left side of the room, with a wide array of hard liquors lining the shelf and twenty different taps of beer lined up in the middle. Lighting the bar were simple light fixtures made from empty beer growlers. Along the two other sides of the room, high top tables were lined up and throughout the rest of the bar were couches and arm chairs cluttered around low tables, creating intimate areas for people to talk. Jake hadn’t known what to expect when Dave invited him to a private speakeasy, but he was pleasantly surprised with how mellow and friendly this place seemed to be.

Jake followed Dave to the bar. Before he even had a chance to look at the abundant stock of liquor and beer, the bartender placed a glass of whiskey in front of him.

“Marco’s a drink mind reader. He always knows exactly what his customers need to drink,” Dave explained as he took a sip of the stout the bartender had poured for him.

“Cool,” replied Jake, taking a sip of his own drink and climbing up onto a bar stool.

“So, I have to ask,” Dave started, speaking less confidently than Jake knew him to speak, “is there something going on between you and Amy?”

Jake shook his head rapidly and put his drink down. Just the mention of Amy had caused Jake’s hands to sweat and he was afraid that the glass was going to slip out of his hands. “Nah, we’re just friends.”

“Oh cool,” Dave said, looking relieved and finally taking a seat in the empty stool next to Jake. “So, you’re single?”

Jake nodded. “Yup.”

“Cool,” Dave said.

Jake and Dave sat at the bar and drank, talking about everything. They talked about the Academy and why they wanted to be cops. They talked about their favorite movies, concerts they’d been to, sports teams they rooted for, places they’d visited. The more drinks the bartender put in front of Jake, they more he opened up to Dave, the more he was willing to share. They moved to a couch and sat comfortably close as the conversation turned to more serious topics – exes, ambitions, life’s disappointments. Jake found he had no trouble talking about how his father abandoned him when he was seven, a topic that he rarely talked about, and was flattered that Dave opened up to him about his alcoholic mother. 

Eventually, the bar emptied out and the bell rang for last call. Jake checked the time on his phone and was surprised to see that it was already almost 2 in the morning.

“Can I walk you home?” Dave asked. Jake agreed and followed him out of the bar.

Jake was feeling light-headed and good; slightly tipsy but not drunk. Dave was walking incredibly close, repeatedly rubbing arms with Jake. Jake couldn’t help but smile as Dave eventually slipped his fingers through Jake’s. They walked the rest of the way home in silence, holding hands, occasionally looking at each other and smiling.

They reached Jake’s apartment building and he led Dave into the building and up the stairs to the fifth floor.

“This is me,” Jake said as they approached his apartment. Jake let go of Dave’s hand and turned to face Dave, his back inches away from the wall next to the door.

“I had a great time,” Dave said, taking a step closer to Jake.

Jake stepped back so that his back was now up against the wall. “Me too.”

Dave took one more step closer to Jake, leaning one hand on the wall next to Jake’s head, grabbing Jake’s waist with his other hand. Jake leaned his head forward and met Dave’s lips. Dave kissed Jake hard, and Jake kissed hard back with enthusiasm and recklessness. He grabbed at Dave’s waist, pulling him closer into him. Dave bit Jake’s lower lip and Jake found that he enjoyed the roughness of Dave’s kissing. He moaned as he felt Dave’s leg rub against his own crotch.

Jake was lost in Dave’s kiss as a door slammed from somewhere in the hallway. Shocked by the sudden noise, Jake involuntarily pushed Dave off of him. Panting, he looked to the right and was horrified to see Teddy exiting his apartment.

“Dave. Jake,” Teddy addressed the two men.

“Hey Wells.” Dave said with a slight nod.

Jake stared at Teddy, his brows furrowed. All the elation he had felt a minute ago while kissing Dave was now replaced with jealousy and loathing for Teddy.

“Well, see you guys on Monday,” Teddy said, waving and walking off to the stairwell. Jake watched Teddy leaving, biting his lip, panting, and with an overwhelming feeling of abhorrence. He wondered what Teddy was doing in his apartment. Logically, he knew that Teddy’s presence at his apartment must have meant that his date with Amy had went well. Had he just dropped her off? Or, had they slept together and now he was leaving? He knew he had no right to be jealous, but he still was.

“Jake.”

Jake turned back to look at Dave who was looking confused.

“Sorry,” Jake replied.

Dave leaned in to kiss Jake, but Jake turned his head.

“Sorry,” Jake repeated.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Dave asked.

Jake bit his lip again and inhaled deeply through his nose. He looked at Dave who was looking back at him concerned.

“There’s nothing going on between me and Amy, but I do like her,” he confessed.

“And she just had a date with another guy,” Dave finished, filling in the missing piece that Jake hadn’t expressed.

Jake nodded. “I’m sorry. I thought I was cool with it. Or, at least, I was trying to be cool with it. I have to be cool with it – she just wants to be friends.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Dave shrugged. Jake looked at Dave, amazed at how nonchalant he was being. “This is new for me – I’ve never been rejected.”

Jake gulped, feeling bad that he had inadvertently used Dave to try to get over Amy. “I’m not really rejecting you.”

“But, you can’t really commit to this if you’re hung up on Amy.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Dave assured Jake. He leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on Jake’s cheek and took off down the hall. Jake watched Dave go. Before opening the door to the stairwell, Dave turned back around and called out, “Why don’t you give me a call when you’re really ready to date?”

Jake sighed and slammed the back of his head against the wall.


	6. The Next Day

“Of course, your date with Dave ended badly. You’re not supposed to be with him. You’re supposed to be with Amy,” Charles passionately explained after Jake told him about his date the night before. The two of them were sitting at a table at one of Charles’ favorite restaurants, a large plate of sausage sitting on the table. While Jake had thought he was going to be going to dinner with just Charles, he had shown up to the restaurant surprised to see that Genevieve, his neighbor whom Charles had hit it off with at the party, was also joining them.

“It’s not going to happen with Amy though,” Jake countered. “She just wants to be friends.”

Charles waved off Jake’s response. “She doesn’t know what she wants.”

Jake rolled his eyes and huffed.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Charles continued, turning to Genevieve for confirmation.

“I don’t really know. I’ve only seen Jake and Amy together once,’ Genevieve said.

“Oh, I’m right,” Charles confidently declared. 

“If you say you’re right, then you’re right, boo.” Genevieve leaned over and kissed Charles.

Jake turned away to avoid his friend’s awkward public display of affection. Jake turned back once he was sure they were done kissing and said to Genevieve, “He’s wrong.”

Genevieve shrugged her shoulders and dismissed herself to the bathroom.

“She’s great, isn’t she?” Charles asked, affectionately watching her as she walked away.

“Yes,” Jake responded. “But, maybe tone it down on the PDA.”

Charles blushed and explained, “I just can’t help it. I love her.”

Jake raised his eyebrows in shock. “You love her? You’ve only known her a week.”

“When you know you know, Jake,” Charles explained. “Just like I know you and Amy are meant to be.” 

“Well you’re the only one.” Jake picked up his fork and attempted to eat another bite of the sausage that he’d been working on for the last five minutes. After three sausages, Jake had determined that he never wanted to look at another sausage again in his life, let alone eat another one. But Charles had insisted that this was a great culinary experience, so he pushed through, willing to do anything to appease his friend.

“You’ll see,” Charles maintained. “Trust me, I’m right about this.”

**…**

Jake arrived home, stuffed with sausage and feeling slightly nauseous, to find his roommates lounging around the living room, watching TV and drinking wine.

“Sup,” he said, sinking down onto the couch next to Gina.

“Jakey, I need to hear the deets about your date with Dave,” Gina proclaimed, shifting closer to Jake, resting her head on his shoulder. He threw his arm around her shoulder, drawing her in closer to him. After being friends with Gina almost his whole life, Jake was comfortable with this closeness that he and Gina had. There had been many nights in high school where they’d fallen asleep together, cuddled in one of their beds. Jake loved that he was able to have this closeness with Gina without either of them ever wanting anything more than their platonic friendship.  

“It was fine. We went to this private bar that he belongs to and talked. He walked me home. We made out.”

“That’s it?!” Gina exclaimed, upset by the lack of juicy details.

“That’s it,” Jake stated.

“Are you going to see him again?” Amy asked.

Jake looked over to the armchair where she was sitting. She was staring right at him, looking genuinely intrigued. “I’ll see him on Monday.”

Amy bit her lip, looking a little nervous. “I mean…” she trailed off.

Jake shook his head, still looking at Amy. “I don’t think we’re going to go on another date.”

Amy didn’t say anything. She looked at Jake for another minute before turning her attention back to the TV.

Jake felt a buzzing in his front jean pocket and pulled out his phone to see a text from Rosa. _“So, you didn’t bone?”_ it read. Jake quickly texted back _“No”_ and put his phone away, ignoring the text Rosa sent back to him, wanting to drop the subject.

The four roommates watched TV in silence for another half an hour, when there was a knock at the door.

“That’ll be Teddy,” Amy announced, jumping up from her seat and racing over to the door.

Jake looked over to the door, upset to see Teddy entering his home.

“Hey guys,” Teddy said, addressing everyone.

“C’mon, we’re all just watching TV,” Amy said, leading Teddy into the living room. She sat back down in in the armchair, patting the arm of the seat for Teddy to sit down on. Jake watched as Teddy took the seat Amy offered him. He gulped uncomfortably watching Teddy putting his arm around Amy, Amy resting her elbow on his knee.

Jake suddenly felt very nauseous, not sure if it was from the disgusting amount of sausages he ate, the unpleasant sight of Teddy and Amy together, or a combination of the two.

“I’m not feeling too well,” he announced, carefully pushing Gina off of him and standing up. He headed down to his bedroom, not waiting for anyone to respond. He closed the door behind him and changed into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Not feeling like doing anything, he sat down on his bed, his back resting against the head rest.

After several minutes of sitting there in silence, not doing anything, he heard a knock at his door.

“Jake?” Gina whispered.

Jake didn’t respond, but that didn’t stop Gina from entering his room. She walked in and sat down next to him on the bed. Without saying anything, Jake rested his head on Gina’s chest, letting her pat his head soothingly while tears silently ran down his face. He stayed that way, letting Gina comfort him until he eventually fell asleep.


	7. Wings

Over the next few weeks, Teddy became a more regular presence in Jake’s life. He seemed to be the sixth member of the friend group, always eating lunch with Jake, Amy, Rosa and Charles, sitting with them during lessons, partnering up with Amy, leaving either Rosa or Charles to find a new partner during physical training. He headed to the bar with them and Gina after work, and at least once a week, he would be at their apartment to pick Amy up for a date. While Jake didn’t like that Teddy was around all the time, he was able to deal with it better. Teddy made Amy happy, and her happiness was all that Jake cared about. He could deal with dull, annoying Teddy if it put a smile on Amy’s face.

Despite the way their date had ended, Dave was still amicable towards Jake. He still was game to go to the bar with Jake and his roommates and Charles and Teddy after a long day at the Academy or work with Jake at the Academy. Jake found that he valued Dave as a friend and was happy for him when he started to pursue a relationship with another guy at the Academy, Bobby.

One Friday, after a long, tough week at the Academy a month and a half in, Jake was in desperate need of a drink. He had hit a plateau in the physical aspects of his training, no longer improving, and was struggling a little bit to keep police codes straight. All he wanted was to forget about how hard the Academy was with an even harder drink with a friend. Unfortunately, finding an available friend was proving to be a struggle – Amy had a date with Teddy, Charles had a date with Genevieve, Dave had a date with Bobby, and Rosa and Gina were each being vague about their evening plans.

Jake headed out of the Academy building, debating if he should just go to the bar alone or head home and sleep. Unconsciously, his feet took him to the bar. He entered and found a spot at the bar, quickly getting the bartender’s attention and ordering a Brooklyn Lager. He sipped his beer slowly, watching a Nets game on the TV. He watched the game intently, becoming angered when the ref was making bad calls against the Nets. Apparently though, he wasn’t the only one angered by the refs.

“Oh c’mon. What was that call, you morons?” he heard a voice shouting down at the other side of the bar. Jake peered over and saw his neighbor Sophia yelling at the TV. He laughed to himself and watched her for a moment. She was so wrapped up in the game, focused on yelling at the refs, she was completely ignoring the beer that was sitting in front of her. Jake thought it was cute how intense she was about the Nets.

He finished his beer and signaled to the bartender for another one. When his second beer came, he picked it up and walked over to Sophia. “The only thing worse than the Nets losing is the Nets losing because of bad refs,” he said, taking the empty seat next to Sophia.

Sophia whipped her head around, clearly startled by Jake’s sudden appearance at her side. Once she saw it was him, she smiled. “I know, right? Can’t these idiots make one decent call?”

“I really doubt it,” Jake said with a laugh and Sophia laughed too. “So, what are you doing here alone? Besides yelling at the TV like a crazy person.”

Sophia laughed and playfully rolled her eyes. “I’ve just had a bad week and desperately needed a beer. You?”

“Same,” replied Jake. “What was so bad about your week?”

“I went to court for the first time on a really big case and it is not going well.”

“Sorry. That sucks.”

Sophia shrugged. “I know I shouldn’t expect to win my first case, but I just don’t handle losing well.”

“I can tell,” Jake laughed, referring to her disappointment over a basketball game.

Sophia laughed. “What’s so bad about your week?”

“I think I’ve peaked at the Academy. My mile time isn’t getting faster, my push-ups and sit-ups aren’t increasing, I’m having a hard time remembering things that I have to know in the field.” Jake’s bad week also had to do with the unwanted presence of Teddy in his life, but that wasn’t something that he wanted to express to Sophia.

“Sorry,” Sophia replied.

Jake picked up his beer and took a large gulp, turning away from Sophia and focusing on the game. After a couple minutes, she nudged his shoulder with her own. He turned and looked down at her. “Let’s get drunk and forget about our crappy weeks,” she suggested.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Jake said with a large grin. They continued to drink and watch the game, complaining about more bad calls and cursing out the refs when the Nets ultimately lost.

“You wanna get some food?” Sophia asked, picking up a menu and skimming through it. “How about wings?”

Jake smiled, thinking how unbelievably cool it was that he found a woman who loved the Nets and wings, two of his favorite things. “If you like wings, I know of a place only a couple blocks away. They claim to have the hottest wings in the city. Care to test them out?”

“Sounds great,” Sophia replied. They paid the bartender for their drinks and headed out of the bar and down the street. They made small talk about the weather and gossiped about their neighbors until they reached the restaurant. Once at a table, the ordered the hottest wings, not even bothering to look at the menu. As they waited for their food, they talked about the Nets’ season so far and suggested strategies for the team to turn their season around.

“Ready for this?” Jake asked as the wings were placed in the middle of their table.

“Absolutely,” Sophia responded.

Jake took a bite and was surprised to find that the wing was very mild. “Oh, that’s not bad at all,” he stated, disappointed by the lack of heat. And then it hit him. His mouth was on fire, burning. He picked up his beer and guzzled down as much as he could, as fast as he could, not caring how stupid he must look right now, only caring about cooling off his mouth. He was comforted by Sophia’s more awkward response to the intense heat by drinking the ranch dressing that had come as dipping sauce for the wings.

“Oh my God. That was really hot,” Jake sputtered out once his mouth finally cooled off.

“I really wasn’t expecting it to be so hot,” Sophia replied.

Jake looked down at the plate of wings that still sat in between them. On the one hand, he never wanted to put his mouth through the torture that he had just experienced. On the other hand, they were delicious and he wanted to keep eating them.

“Should we keep eating?” asked Sophia.

“Well, we did pay for them. And, despite the heat, they are delicious…”

“I think we’re going to need more beer and ranch dressing,” Sophia said, already getting the waiter’s attention.

Jake and Sophia finished the plate of wings. He was sure they looked crazy, fanning off their tongues and drinking ranch dressing. He really didn’t care though, he was just having fun with Sophia.

The waiter came by and asked if they wanted anything else and Sophia proposed that they get ice cream. Jake was happy with Sophia’s suggestion; one, because the ice cream would be perfect to cool down his still burning mouth, and two, because dessert meant that he was getting to spend more time with Sophia, who’s company he really enjoyed.

“Walk me home?” Sophia asked as they stood up after paying their bill.

“I guess so I am walking in your direction,” Jake teased, playfully sticking his tongue out.

“Usually, when I’m having a bad time, I like to watch _Die Hard_ to cheer me up,” Sophia confessed as they walked out of the restaurant.

“No way!” Jake squealed, stunned by yet another thing that he and Sophia had in common. “ _Die Hard_ is my all-time favorite movie.”

They walked the rest of the way home, sharing their favorite parts of the film. Jake reached out and grabbed Sophia’s hand without even thinking about what he was doing, pleased when she didn’t pull away.

They reached their building and when they got to the third floor, where Sophia lived, she led Jake down the hallway to her apartment. She paused in front of the door and rummaged through her bag for the key. She unlocked the door and walked inside, holding the door open for Jake to follow her in. He walked in and moved to the side, allowing her to close the door behind him. Once she locked up the door and placed her keys and bag down, Jake grabbed her waist and pulled her into him, leaning down and kissing her. She kissed him back and pushed his jacket off him, letting it fall to the floor. Jake and Sophia kissed each other deeply and grabbed at each other, pulling each other’s clothes off as they made their way across her studio apartment to her bed. They fell onto the bed, groping each other and kissing with intense desire.


	8. Jake and Sophia

Jake woke up to the smell of coffee brewing and bacon sizzling on the stove. He squinted, blinded by the light pouring in through the wide-open window, as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he looked towards the kitchen to see Sophia typing away furiously on her laptop, whilst also talking loudly on the phone. He noticed that all she was wearing was her black, lace thong and his green button-down shirt. The sight of her in his clothes, and looking strong and powerful, turned him on.

“Morning,” he whispered as he climbed out of bed and made his way over to Sophia. He leaned down and kissed her on the top of her head quickly, letting her get back to her important phone call. He walked back towards the bed and searched the floor around it for his boxers. He spotted them on the couch where he must have thrown them in a hurry last night. He swiftly put them on before heading back to the kitchen. Jake picked up the empty mug Sophia had left next to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup, adding four spoonsful of sugar. He peered over at Sophia to see that she was pointing to a cabinet just above where he was standing. Jake opened it up and saw it was full of dishes. He pulled out a plate and dished the bacon out onto it. Taking his coffee and the plate full of bacon, he joined Sophia at the counter, placing the plate between them. He nibbled on a piece of bacon as he watched Sophia work.

“Sorry, did my yelling on the phone wake you up?” Sophia asked as she finally ended the phone call, placing her phone down on the counter and picking up a piece of bacon with one hand, the other running through Jake’s hair. 

“Not at all,” Jake assured her, smiling.

“Oh, good. I just had some work on this difficult case that I wanted to take care of right away so I didn’t have to worry about it for the rest of the weekend,” Sophia explained.

“That’s fine. I understand.” Jake reached up and brushed her hair out of her face, holding his hand there for a moment. He looked her up and down, taking in how beautiful she was and how sexy she looked in his shirt. “You look really great.”

“I know,” she said with a shrug and a smirk. She winked, revealing that, while she was confident about her looks, she wasn’t conceited. Sounding a bit insecure, she asked “Is it ok that I’m wearing your shirt?”

“Absolutely.” Jake smiled broadly, removing his hand from her head to grab another piece of bacon. “You look better in it than me.”

Sophia tilted her head and smiled. Jake finished the bacon he was eating and leaned in to kiss her on the lips. He pulled away after a few seconds, but she drew him back in, throwing her arms around his neck and deepening the kiss. Jake moaned as her tongue slipped between his lips. He placed his hands on her waist. She stood on the rung of her stool and Jake half-picked her up as she kicked one leg up and over his legs so that she could sit on his lap and kiss him.

Eventually, Sophia pulled away. “You’re cute,” she declared.

Jake smiled widely, his face turning red. “Thanks.”

Jake looked Sophia in the eyes with admiration, baffled as to how he could have ended up spending the night, having amazing sex, with a sexy, fierce, amazing woman as Sophia; a woman who loved the Nets, wings, and _Die Hard_. To Jake, Sophia was incredible; practically the perfect woman (or, at least, perfect on paper).

“What do you have planned for the rest of the day?” Jake asked.

“Absolutely nothing,” Sophia responded.

Jake raised his eyebrows, excited. “Really?!”  

Sophia leaned in closer. Seductively, she whispered, “I was thinking…I wouldn’t mind a day in…watching _Die Hard_ …ordering pizza…drinking beers…participating in _other_ activities…”

“Okay, okay. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool” Jake said with a mischievous grin, understanding exactly what Sophia was getting at, and having no problem at all with it.

…  
An alarm rang and Jake groaned, wishful that’d he’d been able to fall asleep after their latest strenuous activity.

Since breakfast yesterday morning, Jake and Sophia had fallen into a cocoon of junk food, movies, sex and slumber. After breakfast, they’d put in _Die Hard_ to watch. As they watched the movie, they found that they couldn’t keep their hands to themselves. Groping at each other, kissing, undressing each other; they ended-up fucking right there on the couch before falling asleep. When they woke up, they desperately needed food to reenergize, and ordered a pizza. Without even trying, they fell into this pattern of watching TV and movies, having sex, falling asleep, and waking up to eat the unhealthiest foods. They had barely come down from the high of their last climaxes when Sophia’s alarm had rung out. 

Panting still, not relaxed from their last round, Sophia climbed over Jake to turn off the alarm. Jake watched her, noticing that the clock only read 6am.

“Why the hell do you have an alarm set for 6am on a Sunday?” Jake grumbled.

“Because I promised my mama that I’d go to 8am mass with her,” Sophia groaned as she scrambled out of bed and sauntered to the bathroom. Jake rolled out of bed and followed her.

“Mass?”

“Yes,” Sophia replied as she reached into the shower, turning on the faucet. “Mass: where Catholics go on Sundays.

“You’re Catholic?” Jake asked, taking a seat on the toilet while Sophia delved through the bathroom closet, emerging with a clean towel, which she threw at Jake.

“Yeah. Well, I was raised Catholic. But now, I only go to Church to appease my mother,” Sophia explained as she climbed into the shower. “What are you?”

“I’m Jewish, I guess,” Jake said, standing up and putting the towel down on the toilet seat as he joined Sophia in the shower.

“Jewish?!” Sophia exclaimed. She ran her hands through her wet hair under the shower head. She picked up her bottle of shampoo and poured a dime-size amount into her palm. After placing the bottle back down, she rubbed her hands together before lathering the shampoo into her hair. “But Jake, you ate all that bacon.”

“Obviously I’m not practicing,” Jake clarified. He picked up the shampoo bottle that Sophia had used and dispensed a tiny blob into his hand. He ran his hand through his hair and lathered up the shampoo. “I mean I had a Bar Mitzvah and my mom and I have dinner for the major holidays – Hanukkah, Passover, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, and whatever – but other than that, I don’t consider myself to be super religious. I don’t go to the synagogue, I don’t pray…”

“Like ever?” Sophia asked, reaching up and rinsing the shampoo out of Jake’s hair.

Jake shrugged. “Nah, not that I can ever remember. Do you? Pray, I mean?”

“Occasionally.” Sophia picked up the bar of soap and her wash cloth, rubbing the soap onto the cloth. She held up the soap, offering it to Jake. He accepted the soap and rubbed it over his body as Sophia continued. “When things are really bad, or I feel like I need a little guidance. Like with this case. I just pray that I have the strength that I’ll do my best. Even though I know whether I win or lose is mostly in my own hands, I still like to think that someone is watching over me.”

“I guess I understand that.”

Jake put the soap back on the shelf and washed off the suds from his body. He thought it was nice that Sophia believed in something. He never really had faith in anything, but it was nice to be in the presence of someone who did have some faith. Maybe it would rub off on him.

…

Jake left the apartment with Sophia as she left for Church, kissing her goodbye before he headed upstairs to his apartment and she headed downstairs. He headed back to his own apartment and straight to his room where he fell right on his bed and slept for several hours. When Jake eventually woke up, early in the afternoon, he heard music playing loudly and laughing. He ventured out to the kitchen and found Gina and Rosa, each with a glass of wine in hand, cooking pasta and tomato sauce, while dancing to Beyoncé.  

“Jakey, where have you been?” Gina yelled out, grabbing another wine glass from the cabinet and filling it up with wine, forcing it into Jake’s hand.

Jake reluctantly accepted the glass and said, “I’ve been at Sophia’s.”

“Since Friday!?” Gina shrieked.

Jake nodded, blushing.

“Get it girl,” Gina responded, patting Jake on the back. “Give me the deets.”

Jake shook his head. “Absolutely not.”

“That means they boned, a lot,” Rosa stated, turning her attention to the boiling pasta water.

Jake rolled his eyes, a telling smirk emerging on his face, betraying his yearning to keep the details of his sex life from his roommates, especially Gina.

“You go girl,” Gina cheered.

“What’s going on?” asked a voice from behind Jake. He spun around and saw Amy entering the kitchen, arriving home after a run, dripping in sweat, pulling her earbuds out of her ears and opening up the fridge for a bottle of water.

“We’re celebrating Jake,” Gina replied. Jake pivoted back around to shoot Gina a warning look. But it was too late. “Jakey boned the hot neighbor.”

Jake turned around slowly to face Amy. With wide eyes, she looked him in the eyes and slowly said, “Oh.”

Jake gulped, waiting for her to say more. She slowly sipped her water, her head turned away from him, focused on the wall. Finally, she turned her attention back to him, quietly saying, “I need a shower,” before leaving the room before anyone could respond.

…

Jake laid wide awake that night, feeling a mixture of emotions. He had arrived home from Sophia’s feeling ecstatic. He had just spent an amazing weekend with an awesome woman – one who was chill and fun, and with whom he had a lot in common. When he was with Sophia, he realized that he wasn’t pining after Amy, which was positive and healthy for him. However, he couldn’t get the image of Amy’s face when she found out about him and Sophia out of his mind. She seemed to be upset by Jake’s emerging romance with their neighbor. Jake was confused by Amy’s reaction. Was she actually upset? And if she was, then how did he feel about it? Every time his thoughts wandered to Amy, he felt guilty. He had no right to think about somebody else’s girlfriend. And, he had no right to think about another woman after the weekend he had spent getting closer, romantically, to Sophia.

His conflicted feelings kept him tossing and turning throughout the night.

…

Jake exited the Academy Monday afternoon and spotted Sophia leaning against a street sign, a couple cups of coffee in her hands. Jake smiled and made his way over to her, walking away from Amy and Rosa without saying anything.

“Hey,” he greeted Sophia.

“Hey,” she replied, leaning up to place a kiss on his cheek, offering him one of the coffees.

“Thanks,” Jake said, accepting the hot cup of coffee. He started walking down the street with Sophia by his side.

“We finished in court for the day and I thought I’d come by and see you before I headed to the office,” she said, walking along Jake’s side, lacing her fingers through his.

“I’m glad you did.” Jake looked down at Sophia and smiled, his heart racing at the sight of her. He asked her about how her case was going as he walked her back to her office. She told him as much as she could and then asked him how his day at the Academy had gone.

And so, this went on for the rest of the week. Jake left the Academy each day to find Sophia waiting for him, two coffees in hand (a large caffeinated one for her to help her through the long night of trial prep, and a small decaffeinated on for him, as to not keep him awake all night). They would share how their days had went as Jake walked her back to her office.

Jake also found that his performance at the Academy was improving. With something to look forward to at the end of each day, he was able to push himself harder. His mile time started dropping again, his push-up and sit-up counts were increasing, and he was shining academically.  

On Friday, Jake exited the Academy, spotting an empty-handed Sophia.  

“Jake,” she yelled, running to meet him. She jumped up, throwing her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He caught her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I won!”

“That’s amazing,” Jake congratulated her as she grabbed his face and pulled him in for a passionate kiss.

Eventually, Sophia let go, releasing herself from Jake’s embrace. “Let’s go celebrate!”

“Yes, absolutely,” Jake concurred.

An hour later, Jake was showered and changed, knocking on Sophia’s door.

“Hey beautiful,” he said when she opened the door, barely able to even get the words out, he was so blown away by her beauty.  She was wearing a slim fitting, strapless, midi-length, black dress with a sweetheart neckline. Her long black hair was pulled back in a bun that rested on her neck. The only jewelry she wore was a pair of silver hoop earrings and a simple silver bracelet around her left wrist. Her make-up was done nicely, making her brown eyes pop out.

“You clean up pretty nice,” Sophia responded, making Jake blush.

“I try,” he laughed as he spun around, showing off his classic black suit, which he wore with a light blue shirt and a dark blue and white striped tie. His mom had insisted on buying him a suit for his college graduation. This was the only other time he’d worn it since his graduation day. He was glad that he finally had another occasion to wear it.

“Shall we go?” Sophia asked. Jake nodded, and she grabbed her purse as she ushered him out, locking her apartment behind her.

Jake led Sophia to his car, opening the door for her before rushing over to the driver’s seat and climbing in. He let her have control over the radio, pleasantly surprised to find that she had the same taste in music as him. They sung loudly along to old school rap all the way to the restaurant.

Once they arrived, Jake rushed out of the car and over to the passenger side, before Sophia could let herself out. She smiled as she took his hand, and he gently pulled her out of the car. He handed his keys over to the waiting Valet and walked Sophia inside. He told his name to the hostess, who promptly found their reservation and led them to their table.

“Jake, you didn’t have to take me somewhere so fancy,” Sophia stated, as she sat down, looking around in awe at the restaurant. “This place is too expensive.”

“Who said I was paying?” Jake joked as he took his own seat. He looked at Sophia who was looking back at him, biting her lip nervously.

“Jake…”

He brushed her off. “Don’t worry about it.” He saw her looking at him, still worried, so he elaborated. “My dad’s sleeping with the executive chef here so he pulled a favor for me.”

“That was so nice of him,” Sophia said.

Jake shrugged. “Yeah, well, let’s just hope she doesn’t find out about the other women he’s sleeping with before we finish dessert.”

Sophia looked at Jake, confused. So, he explained everything; he explained how his father left him and his mother when he was seven, how his father was absent most of his life, how his father slept with a bunch of women (even when he was with Jake’s mother), how he was a self-serving, self-obsessed man who had never been there for Jake. He talked and talked, stopping only to order a drink and then his dinner. He talked as his food arrived, and he talked and ate at the same time.

“Jake,” Sophia whispered, as Jake finished telling the saga of his childhood, reaching across the table to hold his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Jake replied, shaking his head. “I’m sorry for dominating the conversation all night. We should be talking about you! You’re the one we’re celebrating.”

Sophia turned a bright shade of red and Jake laughed. “Stop!” she half-heartedly yelled at him.

“You’re cute when you blush,” Jake told her. She responded by throwing a dinner roll at him.

For the rest of dinner, Jake insisted that Sophia talk about herself, asking her to tell him everything about her case. Through dessert, he asked her to tell him about why she decided to become a lawyer, where she went to law school, where she went to undergrad. As they left the restaurant and drove back home, he asked about her childhood and her family.

By the time they arrived back at Sophia’s apartment, he felt that he was finally getting to know her on a deeper level. As they had sex that night, he didn’t feel like it was just fucking; he felt like it was making love.


	9. Double Date

After that night, things started to get serious between Jake and Sophia. He took her out on more dates, texted her throughout the day, even spent more nights at her apartment. He opened up to her more about his childhood, shared his hopes and dreams and fears. She made him feel appreciated in a way no one ever had before. He certainly was beginning to have feelings for her that he had never had for any other woman – feelings he wasn’t quite able to say out loud just yet.

Over the next month, Jake spent more and more time with Sophia – meaning he was spending less and less time at home. Having always been close to Gina, his relationship with her stayed the same. And at the Academy, he often partnered up with Rosa, meaning that their relationship was improving as he depended more on her and was trusting her more. The only one of his roommate relationships that was suffering was his one with Amy.

With Jake dating Sophia and Amy dating Teddy, the two were rarely at home at the same time. Jake spent most nights at Sophia’s and, according to Gina, Amy spent most nights at Teddy’s. What Jake had once thought was going to be a great friendship, had turned out to be a non-existent relationship due to their romantic relationships. While he cherished his relationship with Sophia, Jake was upset that it had seemed to come at the cost of his friendship with Amy. 

…

Jake woke one cool, drizzling, Saturday morning, warmed by the comfort of Sophia’s bed. He turned to his side so that he could watch Sophia sleep. He watched as her chest rose and fell with each breath, smiling as she softly hummed on every exhale. Not wanting to disturb her from her peaceful slumber, he carefully rolled out of bed, and headed to the kitchen. He slowly opened up the fridge, hoping to find something he could scrape together into an edible breakfast, though, was unsurprised to find only a six-pack of beer, a quart of milk, and week’s supply of yogurt.

“Jake,” Sophia called out from the bed.

“Yeah,” he replied, closing the fridge door and turning back towards the bed. “There is absolutely no food.”

“I know, I’m the worst about grocery shopping,” Sophia said with an awkward grin and a shrug.

“Well,” Jake continued, “what are we going to do about breakfast? I needs to eat.”

“Brunch?” Sophia suggested. Jake nodded in agreement.

Half an hour later, Jake was opening the door to the trendy new restaurant down the street. Jake pushed his way through the crowded lobby to the hostess stand, asking for a table for two.

“Sorry, we’re pretty crowded today,” responded the teenage hostess without looking up. “We don’t have any more tables for two, at the moment. It’s about an hour wait. You can sit at the community table if you want.”

Jake turned back to confirm with Sophia that this option was okay, his stomach grumbling, giving it away that he was starving and couldn’t wait any longer to eat. Sophia giggled and nodded. Jake turned back to the hostess, nodded his head, and she grabbed two menus before leading them to the middle of the restaurant.

They reached the community table where Jake was horrified to find that the only other couple sitting there was Amy and Teddy.

“Jake!” Teddy exclaimed. “Come join us!”

Jake vehemently shook his head, avoiding looking at Amy. “We don’t want to intrude. We can just sit over here,” he stated quickly, already pulling out a chair for Sophia on the opposite end of the table.

“No, no, I insist, it’s fine.” Teddy insisted.

Sophia shrugged and pushed Jake forward, encouraging him to take the seat next to Teddy, while she walked around the table and sat down next to Amy. Jake dared to take a quick look at Amy, who was looking back at him with wide eyes, biting her lower lip. Jake smiled at her and she turned red as she tucked her hair back behind her ears.

“So, how are you guys?” Teddy asked.

“Great…” Jake started, though he was quickly interrupted by Amy, who had suddenly stood up, her chair noisily crashing into the person behind her.

“I forgot something in the car,” she loudly declared. She started walking and firmly gripped Jake’s arm, pulling him up out of his chair. “Help me with it Jake,”

“Um, sure,” he replied, though he really didn’t have a choice in the matter, as Amy was already dragging him through the restaurant.

“You need to go,” she said once they reached the sidewalk outside of the restaurant, the rain softly falling down on them.

“But I’m starving,” Jake whined. “We’ll just move to the end of the table.”

“Nope, that won’t work. You need to _go_ , go. Leave.” Amy began pacing back and forth on the sidewalk, one hand on her hip, the other pinching the bridge of her nose.

Jake stood in front of Amy, blocking her path, grabbing her shoulders to calm her down. “Ames, what’s going on?”

Amy sighed, releasing her nose from the grip of her right hand, and placing her hand on her hip. “I’m going to break up with Teddy.”

“What? Why?” Jake asked, trying his best to suppress the smile that was involuntarily spreading across his face. An image of a naked Sophia in bed jumped to the forefront of his mind and he immediately felt guilty about his apparent excitement over Amy and Teddy’s pending break-up.

Amy released herself from Jake’s grasp and walked away. She leaned against the wall of the restaurant, rooting around in her purse for something. Jake joined her, leaning up against the wall beside her. He was shocked to see that she was pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of her bag. Her looked at her, his jaw hanging open in disbelief.

“I smoke when I’m stressed. It’s my shame cigarette. Don’t judge me.”

Jake nodded in agreement and stood next to Amy in silence for several minutes, waiting for her to calm down. Finally, after numerous stressful puffs of her cigarette, she spoke. “I’m breaking up with Teddy, because he’s boring,” she explained. “I thought it would be better to do it someplace really public, where we’re surrounded by strangers. It would be less humiliating for him if you weren’t there.”

“Jeez,” Jake said, unable to think of anything else to say. He looked over at Amy who was lighting up another cigarette. Jake watched as Amy held the cigarette between her lips. For a moment, he felt jealous of the cigarette; that it got to touch her beautiful, soft lips. But, the jealousy only lasted a second as he, once again, remembered his gorgeous girlfriend who was waiting for him inside. “We should go.”

Amy nodded, though she made no effort to move, still leaning against the wall, taking another puff of the cigarette. Jake pushed himself off the wall. He took Amy’s hand and pulled her to stand with him. He led her to back to the restaurant’s doors, turning back to yank the cigarette out of her mouth. “I’m judging you; this is gross,” he said with a smirk and a wink as he threw it onto the ground.

“Find what you needed?” Teddy asked when they arrived back at the table.

“Mhm,” Amy hummed, taking her seat across from Teddy.

Jake stood behind his chair. “Hey, Sophia, we should probably get going,” Jake said.

Sophia raised her eyebrows, puzzled. “But, we just got here.”

“I’m not hungry,” Jake lied. Nevertheless, there was no time for Sophia to believe his lie, as his stomach grumbled loudly, betraying him.

“Sit down and order some food Jake,” Sophia stated, practically ordering Jake.

Jake reluctantly sat down and looked at Amy, biting his lip and grimacing, hoping that his face was expressing his regret at not convincing Sophia to leave.

“I was just telling Teddy about the movie we saw last night,” Sophia proclaimed as Jake unenthusiastically perused the menu. Now that he knew Amy was moments away from being Teddy’s _ex_ -girlfriend, he couldn’t think about anything else. He was hoping that Amy would be able to wait to break poor Teddy’s heart until after he and Sophia left, because he didn’t want to have to sit through the awkwardness through the rest of brunch. However, this secret was boiling up in him and he didn’t know how long he could be cool for.

“Maybe we can go see it this afternoon?” Teddy suggested to Amy.

“No, I don’t want to do that,” Amy flatly stated.

“Okay, well maybe we could go to a museum or something,” Teddy suggested instead.

“Nope,” Amy snapped.

“Well, what would you like to do?” Teddy asked.

Jake looked at Amy. She was barely keeping it together. Her hands were holding onto the menu so tight that they had turned white. She was biting her lip and rocking a bit, the same way Jake had noticed she would do before tests at Academy when she was nervous.

“Jake…” Amy said, looking for back-up.

“I’m thinking I’m going to get the waffles,” Jake announced, trying, though undoubtedly failing, to change the subject.

“Amy, what’s going on?” Teddy asked, looking between Amy and Jake, confused.

“Yep, definitely the waffles. Maybe with some whipped cream…” Jake continued, recognizing immediately that he was failing at his attempt to change the subject, but still just going with it.

“I’m going to do it,” Amy declared.

With one last-ditch effort, Jake started singing at the top of his lungs, making the words up as he went along: “ _We’re eating breakfast on this awkward double date…_ ”

Speaking up louder than Jake, and cutting his (terrible) song off, Amy proclaimed, “I want to break it up. Us. Us up. I want to break-up. With you. Teddy.”

Jake bit his lip and looked at Sophia, who was staring, wide eyed, her jaw hanging open.

“Wha- What? Why?” Teddy stammered.

“You’re boring.” Amy professed.

“Ummm…” Sophia hummed softly. Jake looked at her, unsurprised to see a look of horror at what she was witnessing on her face. Recognizing that this really was, or at least, should be, a private moment between Amy and Teddy, Jake started to stand up, suggesting that he and Sophia should leave.

“No, sit down,” Teddy ordered.

“Mhm,” Jake murmured, shocked by Teddy’s command. Jake slowly lowered himself back down into his chair.

“Let’s talk about the real reason Amy’s breaking up with me,” Teddy began, turning to look right at Jake. “You, Jake. You’re the reason my relationship with Amy hasn’t been working.”

Flabbergasted, Jake sputtered out, “I beg your pardon?”

“I know that you and Amy kissed and that you have feelings for Amy. And she has feelings for you too,” Teddy announced.

“You kissed?” Sophia whispered. Jake turned to look at her. He felt a pang in chest at the look of hurt on her face.

“Once, when we were drunk – before she was with Teddy, before I was with you,” Jake defended. “It meant nothing.”

“Oh,” Amy said softly. Jake turned to look at her, the pang in his chest returning as he saw the look of shock and hurt on her face. He bit his lip, unsure of what to say, what to do.

“And you like her?” Sophia asked.

Jake turned to look his girlfriend in the eyes. “I thought I did. But, then I met you…” Jake left the sentence hanging there, unsure of how to continue. Saying that he didn’t still have feelings for Amy would be a lie – there was still a small part of him that was attracted to Amy, that longed for her company, that wanted to wake up next to her, to kiss her. But, his feelings for Sophia were stronger – or at least, he thought they were. Sophia was the one he was with – the one he had chosen to be with. He even thought that he was ready to say those three little words to her.

Sophia turned to look at Amy. “And you like Jake?”

Jake turned his glance to Amy, just in time to see her nodding. His eyes grew wide in shock. A gymnastics routine was commencing in his stomach at the thrill of Amy liking him; this was what he had wanted since he moved into the apartment months ago. However, the routine was cut short by the pounding in his chest, not only reminding him that he was with Sophia, but, also, confirming that he was happy in his relationship with Sophia.  

“I’m out of here,” Teddy said. Nobody said anything as he got up, put on his coat, and stormed out of the restaurant. Jake watched as he left, bewildered at the turn of events of the morning. He had woken up, thinking he would be spending a quiet, relaxing day with his girlfriend. And now here he was, with his girlfriend and his roommate, who had just confessed to having feelings for him, as they watched her ex walk off.

“Jake,” Sophia said, bringing Jake’s attention back to the two women at the table. Jake looked back and forth between the two women, who were looking back at him in expectation of him to say something. In this moment, Jake didn’t know what to do.

“I need to get some air, go for a walk,” he announced, getting up from the table, and walking out without looking back.


	10. The Choice

Jake walked aimlessly for hours, his thoughts tossing back and forth between Amy and Sophia.

On the one hand, there was Amy. She was smart and funny and ambitious. They had a few things in common – mostly their love of puzzles, competitive nature, and desire to be detectives. And, as evidenced by their kiss all those months ago, they had undeniable chemistry. However, they were friends, even if their friendship had been suffering these last few months as they dated other people. And they were roommates. Was he really willing to risk his friendship with Amy for a romantic relationship? Would it even work? Despite their similarities and chemistry, they were still so unlike in many ways. He liked to have a good time while she was cautious, always thinking through consequences before acting. He, admittedly, was still a bit immature at times, while she was often more serious. He couldn’t help but fear that these opposite qualities would drive them apart, rather than balance each other out.

And then there was Sophia. She was intelligent, funny, sexy, adventurous, ambitious. Jake was already with Sophia; he’d connected with her over basketball, beer, and wings – three of his most favorite things in the world. He’d won her over with his charm and sense of humor. They had a good time together. Like with Amy, he also had strong chemistry with Sophia. Sure, their respective dream jobs weren’t necessarily compatible (Really? A detective with a defense attorney? It was like dating Hans Gruber), but they were making it work so far. He had a great thing going with Sophia, was even close to saying those oh so precious, three little words to her. Should he give it all up to be with Amy?    

Two hours later, he stood outside Sophia’s apartment, drenched from head to toe from the rain, water dripping onto the floor, leaving a puddle on the carpet. He leaned against the door frame, exhausted, as he knocked on Sophia’s door. 

“Jake!” Sophia said, startled by Jake’s appearance at her doorstep. She put her arm around him and led him inside, pulling his wet clothes off him. “Let’s get you out of these wet clothes before you get sick.”

“I choose you,” Jake said, shivering, as he let Sophia undress him and wrap him up in a warm, soft blanket. 

“Not now,” Sophia said quietly, shaking her head as she led Jake to the bathroom. “Right now, you need to warm up with a hot shower.”

Jake waited for Sophia to turn on the hot water and let it run, the bathroom filling up with steam. Once she left him alone in the bathroom, he stepped into the shower, sighing in relief as the warmth of the water instantly comforted him. 

Eager to inform Sophia that she was the one he wanted to be with, he hurried in the shower, staying in just long enough to warm himself up. Not even five minutes later, he turned the water off, quickly grabbing a towel from the rack beside the shower and wrapping it around his waist.

“I choose you!” he announced, barging out of the bathroom.

“Fuck!” Sophie jumped on the couch where she was sitting, clearly alarmed by Jake’s speedy reappearance in her living room.

“Sorry,” Jake apologized, taking three long strides, ending up next to her on the couch. He sat next to her, looking her in the eyes, taking her hands in his own. Calmer, he continued. “I want to be with you.”

“Jake…” Sophia started, quietly, turning her head away from him and pulling her hands from his. She stood up, walking toward the kitchen. Jake stayed sitting on the couch, watching Sophia, who was doing everything possible to avoid looking back at him. Finally, she continued, still looking away from him, “I just don’t think we should keep doing this.”

“Huh?” Jake remarked, puzzled by her response. He had been positive that she would be ecstatic that he chose her.

“This is not a serious relationship,” she sighed.

Jake was shocked, his eyebrows rising in disbelief. “Not serious? But, I love you,” he blurted out. He immediately clasped his hands over his mouth, not meaning to say that. But, it was too late. The words already spilled out. Like a volcano spewing out lava, the words had escaped his mouth with no control; no way for them to go back in, no way for them to go away.

“Jake!” Sophia spun around, no longer avoiding him, now looking him right in the eyes.

“I do. I lo-”

“Do. Not. Finish. That. Sentence.” Sophia ordered, cutting him off before he could finish repeating his confession. She stood there, her hands on her hips, breathing in deeply through her nose.

Jake looked at Sophia, feeling heartbroken. He was sure that he loved the woman standing in front of him. How could she not feel the same way? Even worse, how could she be angry that he voiced these feelings to her?

They stood there looking at each other, Jake unsure of what to say at this point. After several, painful minutes, Sophia finally spoke. “I didn’t ever think this was a serious relationship. I saw you with Amy that night at your party. I know you have feelings for her. I thought I was just a way for you to get over her.”

Jake was shocked to hear the words coming out of Sophia’s mouth right now. “I wasn’t using you. I would never use you, or anyone for that matter.”

“I’m not saying you did it intentionally,” Sophia explained. “But when we started dating, you weren’t over Amy. Maybe you didn’t realize it, but I did.”

“I am over her,” Jake argued. “I love you.”

“Please stop saying that,” Sophia groaned.

Jake gulped, staring at Sophia. He felt tears swelling up in his eyes. He blinked, pushing them away. He took a deep breath before saying, “Are you saying – Are you saying you don’t love me?”

Sophia tilted her head and took a step towards Jake. He took a step backwards, wanting to keep the distance between them. Quietly, she said, “No Jake, I don’t love you. I can’t love you. Because, you’ll never really love me. You’re in love with Amy.” 

Jake tried to interrupt her, to protest, but she put her hand up, continuing. “I saw the look on your face today when you found out Amy liked you. Whether you’re willing to admit it or not, you like Amy – you like her in a way that you’ll never be able to like me.”

Jake stared at Sophia, processing what she was saying. He couldn’t help but think that she was making a good point. He had been really into Amy and was devastated when she chose Teddy over him. He had started up a relationship with Sophia so fast, maybe it was, inadvertently, a way to get over Amy. And for these actions, he felt terrible – this wasn’t him and he hated himself for treating someone, especially someone as awesome as Sophia, this way.

He nodded, biting his bottom lip before quietly saying, “Well, then I guess I should go.”

Sophia replied, whispering, “Jake…” but he shook his head, turning to head into the bathroom to put his clothes back on. Once he shut the door, he realized that his clothes were still drenched from the rain. Feeling humiliated, he picked up the clothes, rolled them into an ball, and exited the bathroom. 

“I don’t want to put wet clothes on so I’m just going to leave,” he said, shuffling to the door, holding onto the towel around his waist and the wet clothes. “I’ll get this towel back to you sometime.”

“Keep it,” Sophia said, making Jake feel even more mortified.

“Thanks,” he whispered. He reached for the door, grasping the doorknob when Sophia stopped him once again. 

“Jake!” she called out. He took a deep breath, slowly turning around to look at her. She walked up next to him and kissed him gently on the cheek. “You’re a great guy, and you deserve love.”

Jake nodded. “Thanks,” he repeated, not knowing what else to say.

With one last look at Sophia, he turned around and left her apartment. He prayed to God that he wouldn’t run into anyone as he made his way back to his own apartment, opting to take the stairs over the elevator for extra insurance that he would not have any awkward run-ins with his neighbors. Luckily, he made it back to his own apartment without spotting anyone else, dodging the possibility of having to explain why he was walking around the building in just a towel.

He hesitated as he opened the door to his apartment, hoping none of his roommates were in the living room, again, wanting to avoid having to explain his current outfit, or lack thereof. When he opened the door at last, he was disappointed to find not just one, but all three of his roommates sitting in the living room.

Despite having been broken up with by Sophia over his feelings for Amy, he was not ready to begin anything with Amy. Less than an hour ago, he was choosing Sophia over her. If he was to start something with Amy now, it would come across as him picking her just because his first chose rejected him. There was no way he could do that to Amy.   

And so, he tried his best to enter the apartment without being noticed, hoping to sneak off to his bedroom without being caught by any of his roommates. He was not surprised though, when Gina called out to him before he made it out of the entryway.

“Hey! Towely,” she called, undoubtedly taking advantage of Jake’s peculiar appearance to poke fun at him.

“Not now,” Jake called back, continuing his way to his bedroom. There was no way in hell that he was going to stop and have a conversation with his roommates about what had just transpired at Sophia’s apartment. And, he certainly wasn’t going to tell Amy that, not only had he not picked her, he had just been rejected by a woman he had just confessed his love to. He had been humiliated enough by Sophia, he didn’t need to continue the humiliation in front of Gina, Rosa, and Amy.

Reaching his room, he slammed the door, threw his wet clothes on the floor, and ripped the towel off from around his waist, tossing it straight into the garbage can beside the dresser. Rummaging through the drawers, he quickly pulled out sweats and a t-shirt, swiftly throwing them on.

He paced back and forth in his room, debating whether or not he should leave his room. Should he leave his room, face his roommates and embarrass himself yet again? Or, should he stay in his room, brooding and mourning the loss of a superficial relationship – one that, unfortunately, turned out to serve the purpose of forgetting about Amy while she dated someone else? 

Eventually deciding to just rip the band-aid off now, he exited his room, hoping he wouldn’t regret the information he was about to divulge to his roommates.

“I’m telling you this and once I finish telling you, the conversation is over. No comments. No snide remarks. No questions. Understand?”

Amy and Rosa nodded, while Gina pled, “Just tell us already.”

“Sophia and I are no longer together. And that’s all I’m saying about that.”

Jake avoided looking at Amy. He couldn’t stand to see any look of hope or excitement on her face. Not that he thought so much of himself that he expected Amy to be longing for him. But, she had just admitted that she had feelings for him only hours ago – it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility that she would think his break-up with Sophia meant that he was choosing her.

Ignoring any responses by his roommates, he continued on his way to the kitchen. Opening up the fridge, he pulled out a bottle of beer. He reached into the drawer next to the fridge, pulling out the bottle opener to open his beer and putting the opener back in the drawer. He turned around and jumped, startled by the sight of Gina behind him.

“Jesus,” he sputtered.

“So, why did Sophia dump you?” Gina asked.

“Why are you assuming that she broke up with me?” Jake asked. 

Gina tilted her head and raised her eyebrows.

Shaking his head, he said, “I said I wasn’t talking about this any further.”

With that, he left the kitchen, leaving Gina behind. He continued on, through the living room, not even looking at Amy and Rosa, and into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He placed the beer bottle on the table beside his bed and climbed on top of his covers, leaning on his pillows. He gently rested his head on the wall and closed his eyes, processing the events of the day.

It wasn’t long before he was interrupted by a tender knock on the door.

“Yeah,” he said, just loud enough to be heard by whoever was waiting on the other side.

He sat up, only partially surprised to see Amy entering his room.

“Hey,” she whispered, closing the door behind her and taking a few steps closer to his bed.

“Hey,” Jake responded. “What’s up?”

“I just thought…well…I don’t know…” She took a few steps closer.

“Yeah, Ames?”

 “I was just…well, since you broke up with Sophia I thought…”

Jake shook his head. “I didn’t break up with Sophia.”

Amy looked confused. “But, in the living room you said…”

Jake felt ashamed as he watched the look of understanding come over Amy’s face.

“Oh, God,” she exclaimed, backing up. “I’m so stupid. Sorry.”

“Ames…” Jake said, getting up off his bed and making his way over to her.

“No.” She turned around and ran to the door, slamming it behind her.

“Damn it,” Jake bawled, furious with himself. He balled up his fists, throwing himself onto his bed and punching the pillow.

 It was not lost on him that things were now really bad between him and his roommates. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for taking so long to write this latest chapter (i know, I'm the worst). Thanks to those of you who are still reading it! :)


	11. Moving Out

From the day that he moved in, Jake had insisted that this apartment would only be his home temporarily. He had not intended to stay for as long as he did. But he had gotten comfortable, made connections, formed friendships with his roommates. And, he had fallen for Amy.

He really hadn’t meant to.

He had resisted the urge to act on his feelings for Amy; only kissing her when she made the move, not letting her know how he felt until she told him how she felt, and, most importantly, taking the time to contemplate what it would mean for them to get together. Finally, for once in his life, he had thought things through before jumping head first, without a care in the world.

Even with his caution, his carefulness, his level-headedness, things had gone horribly wrong with Amy. He had not made a move on her. He only kissed her once she pinned him up against the wall and kissed him. He respected her wishes to remain friends. When she started dating, he started dating, too, understanding that she hadn’t picked him, and he needed to move on with his life, not wallow, waiting for a woman who made no indication that she would eventually choose him. After being broken up with by a woman who saw his affection for Amy, he deliberately chose to wait to be with Amy, not wanting her to feel like she was a second choice.

And yet, despite of all of this, Amy had still gotten hurt.

And, Jake had gotten hurt too.

Jake felt absolutely, terribly, horrible. Amy was amazing – smart, kind, caring, funny – the list went on and on. Never, ever, did he want to hurt her. So, his current predicament left him feeling sick to his stomach.

Over the next week, Jake kept to himself. He waited until Amy and Rosa had left for the Academy, before leaving himself, arriving five to ten minutes after them. He stuck with Charles during training. After a long day at the Academy, when he desperately needed a release, he opted to head home as to allow Amy to have the freedom to go out without having to run into him. At home, he grabbed a beer and a snack before retreating to his room for the rest of the evening before passing out, completely avoiding Amy.

After only a few days, he realized that he couldn’t continue to live like this.

And so, he found himself, finally, looking into leaving Gina’s place.

He asked around the Academy, looked on social media, even searched on craigslist, to find another living arrangement, desperate to leave the awkwardness that had recently arisen at Gina’s.

By the end of the week, he found a place that seemed promising enough, living with three other men at the Academy. He wasn’t friends with any of them, but at least he would be living with others who understood what he was going through, the challenges and thrills of being at the Academy.

Over the next week, he quietly started to pack up his belongings, not mentioning to his roommates his intention to leave. He knew that was wrong – he really should give Gina the head’s up so that she could find a new roommate – but he didn’t want her to try to talk him out of it. He decided that he would secretly move into his new place before he told her.

He was surprised when he came home Friday afternoon and found Gina sitting on his bed, unpacking his boxes.

“What are you doing?” he exclaimed, dropping his bag in the doorway and rushing to repack the box Gina was emptying.

“What the fuck is this?” she replied, taking out what he was putting into the boxes. “What were you going to do? Sneak out in the middle of the night? That’s a real dick move Jake.”

“It’s a dick move to go through my personal space and belongings,” he retorted.

“I came in looking for your Nirvana t-shirt that I always used to steal in High School. I used to always climb in through the window in high school and take your things. I hadn’t realized that our relationship had changed. Is it no longer cool for me to just take your stuff?”

Jake rolled his eyes and unwillingly smiled. Only Gina could get away with crossing the line of acceptable roommate behavior with her nostalgia.

Gina raised her eyebrows. “So, what’s going on?”  

Jake sighed and stopped repacking the box, his smile fading. “I can’t live here anymore.”

“Because of Amy?”

Jake nodded.

Gina moved the box down to the floor and shuffled over to be closer to Jake. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him in close. He rested his head on her shoulder, while she patted his back.

“What happened?” Gina asked.

So, Jake told her everything. He told her about what had happened at Brunch that fateful morning. About how conflicted he had been feeling. About why he chose Sophia. About how Sophia rejected him and the conversation that they had as she broke up with him. About what happened when Amy came into his room after he broke the news to his roommates. About how horrible he had been feeling for the past two weeks. And, about why he had made the decision to move out and not tell his roommates.

“Wow, that’s a lot,” Gina said. “But, you don’t have to move out.”

Jake took a deep breath upon hearing Gina respond to his news just as he expected her to.

“Yes, I do,” he argued.

“Just talk to Amy. Let her know how you’re feeling. She won’t be upset. She’ll be understanding that you were being cautious about your friendship.”

Jake was still feeling uncertain. “I don’t know. Will she feel like she’s my second choice?”

“Do you feel like your Amy’s second choice?” Gina asked.

Jake released himself from her embrace and climbed off the bed, walking to the dresser where he leaned on it, looking at Gina. He took a moment to ponder Gina’s question. Yes, Amy had picked Teddy over him. And yes, she didn’t admit her feelings about Jake until Teddy was no longer in the picture. Yet, he didn’t feel like Amy’s second choice. Rather, Jake felt that Amy was being protective over her relationship with him.

“Ok, so I lay it all on the line, let Amy know how I truly feel. I still have to move out,” Jake explained.

“Why?”

“If she rejects me, the apartment becomes awkward and I will be uncomfortable living here. If she reciprocates my feelings, and we do start something, it would be too soon and fast to live with my girlfriend. And what if we date and it doesn’t work out. Then I’d be living with my ex.”

Gina pouted and scrunched up her face at Jake. “Why do you think it would be a bad idea to live with your girlfriend early on in the relationship? It’s not like you’d be living in the same room. You’d still have your own spaces.”

“It’s too fast, it wouldn’t work. And, it would be awkward for you and Rosa to live with a couple.”

“It works for me and Rosa,” Gina stated.

“But I’m not you and Amy’s not – Hold up. You and Rosa are dating?”

“Yeah,” Gina confirmed.

“That’s who you’ve been secretly hooking up with?” Jake asked.

Gina nodded.

“I had no idea,” Jake said.

“See, Rosa and I are roommates and girlfriends and we don’t let either relationship affect the other one. We don’t let our intimate relationship affect the lives of our roommates.”

Jake paced the room, reflecting on Gina’s news and opinion.

Maybe it could work with Amy. Maybe they could be roommates and be dating and everything would be fine.

“I’m gonna tell Amy how I feel!” Jake exclaimed, a large grin growing on his face that he couldn’t stop.

“Atta girl!” Gina cheered on.

Jake could hear the front door open and slam shut.

“Ames!” he called out, running to greet her, eager to confess his feelings for her. He was disappointed when he only saw Rosa. “Where’s Amy?”

“She went out for drinks with Teddy,” Rosa replied, looking confused.

Jake’s heart sank. He missed his chance. She was going to get back together with Teddy.

“Do you know where?” Gina asked.

“Yeah, Shaw’s,” Rosa informed them. “What is going on?”

“Jakey’s going to tell Amy that he wants to be with her,” Gina responded on Jake’s behalf.

“It’s about time,” Rosa commented.

“No, I’m not.” Jake felt deflated. The excitement he was feeling a minute ago was gone. Amy was having drinks with Teddy. She was going to get back together with him. As much as Jake disliked Teddy, he recognized that Teddy was a good guy. Boring, perhaps, but good. And he was open about his adoration for Amy. Jake knew that Amy deserved to be with someone who made it so clear that he wanted to be with her.

“Why not?” Gina demanded to know.

“Because, I missed my chance. She went back to Teddy.”

“You don’t know that,” Gina said.

“You have to let her know how you feel. She can’t make an informed decision without all the information,” Rosa added.

“Go. Run. Tell her how you feel,” Gina insisted, literally pushing Jake towards the door, towards Amy.

Rosa opened the door, allowing Gina to push him out into the hallway. “Go ruin her date. Make a romantic gesture. Open up. Just, let her know how you feel,” Rosa said.

With Jake and Rosa’s encouragement, Jake was feeling more confident. His excitement returned.

“Thanks, you guys,” he said, blowing kisses to Gina and Rosa.

“Go!” they both yelled. 

And with that, Jake took off running to tell Amy he wanted to be with her.


	12. Jake...

Jake entered Shaw’s, feeling a mix of urgency, excitement and nervousness. He scanned the room, searching for Amy, his leg bouncing in nervous anticipation. At last, he spotted her, sitting at the bar with Teddy, smiling. Teddy turned his back towards Amy as he ordered more beers from the bartender. Once his back was towards her, Amy stopped smiling. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through it. Jake noticed that she looked a little bored. As Teddy turned back towards Amy, she quickly shoved her phone back into her pocket and looked at Teddy. Jake saw her mouth smiling, but the smile did not reach her eyes.

Jake took a deep breath, this was his chance. Clearly, she was bored on her date. Now was the time to let her know how he felt.

He started walking towards her. Suddenly, he stopped. She was laughing at something that Teddy had said and was pushing her hair behind her ears. 

All the confidence Jake had built up vanished. His initial thought was wrong – Amy was having fun on her date. He quickly turned around and made his way to the door. He thought he heard someone call his name, but he ignored them, exiting the bar.

He rushed home, ignoring Gina and Rosa’s questions as he headed straight to his room, throwing himself face first onto the bed.

After several minutes, there was a pounding at the door.

“Leave me alone,” Jake shouted.

Jake heard the door open as someone said, “No,” boldly.

Jake pushed himself up and turned to see who was defying his wish to be left alone.

There, in his room, stood Amy, her hands on her hips and her chest rising and falling back down as she quickly worked to regain her breath.

“What…” Jake started, but was interrupted by Amy.

“Why did you ignore me at Shaw’s?” Amy asked.

“Huh?”

“Why did you ignore me at Shaw’s?” she repeated, annoyed.

“I didn’t realize you saw me,” Jake answered. “You seemed to really be into your date with Teddy.”

“It was not a date,” Amy countered.

“It looked like a date,” Jake said quietly. “One that you were really into, I might add.”

“What does that mean?” Amy asked, looking confused.

Jake shook his head. “Never mind.”

“What are you talking about Jake?”

He shook his head, wanting to forget about everything that he had been planning on doing just an hour ago. He wanted to forget that he had been planning on telling Amy how he felt, laying everything on the line, making himself vulnerable. Now he just wanted to be left alone, to keep everything to himself.

But, Amy stood there, staring at him, looking confused, slightly annoyed, yet intrigued, and Jake couldn’t help himself. He had to let her know what he was feeling.

“I went to Shaw’s to tell you how I feel,” Jake confessed.

“Jake…”

He continued. “I was ready to let you know that I like you – a lot. And I got to Shaw’s and you looked so bored and I felt so confident. But, then you pushed your hair behind your ears, and I knew that I missed my chance. Maybe you had had feelings for me, but Teddy is the one you really want to be with.”

Amy still looked confused. “What does how I fixed my hair have to do with anything?” she asked after several, dreadful seconds of silence.

“You push your hair behind your ears when you like someone.” Jake paused, watching the look of horror and intrigue emerge on Amy’s face. He nodded. “Yeah I know your secret give away. Rosa told me.”

“Jake…” Amy whispered, walking around the edge of the bed, coming closer to Jake. 

Amy reached to touch Jake’s cheek, but he flinched, quickly moving himself out of her reach. She put her hand down, letting it hang by her side. She lowered her head, bit her lip, and turned away from Jake.

“We were talking about you…” Amy whispered.

“What?” Jake asked, startled by what Amy had just said.

Amy turned back around and looked at Jake, her eyes piercing his own, making his heart race.

She continued. “Teddy brought up something funny you did in class today. I’m not even sure what it was…”

Amy stopped talking, staring Jake straight in the eyes. He gulped in anticipation.

Amy went on, “The mere mention of you makes my heart race, my cheeks flush, my brain to zero in on your smile, your eyes, your humor…you…”

Jake gulped. “Ames…”

She lunged forward, taking his face in her hands, pulling him in close, her lips capturing his own. He closed his eyes, focusing only on Amy’s soft lips on his own; how tender, soft, and loving her kiss was.

Jake kissed her back, returning the enthusiasm she was showing him. He placed his hands on the small of her back, pulling her up onto the bed, drawing her in closer, their chests meeting, breathing in tandem. He matched her gusto as she quickened the pace of the kiss.

Amy tugged at the bottom of Jake’s shirt, her hands crawling up, unbuttoning each button. He allowed her, his own hands, inching their way up her back, underneath her own shirt, making his skin tingle in excited anticipation. 

With all buttons undone, Amy pushed Jake’s shirt off his body, casting it to the side of the bed. Once shirtless, he pulled up her shirt, pulling it over her head, throwing it, not caring where it landed, just wanting it out of the way at once. He pressed his bare chest to hers, kissing her once again.   

Amy pulled the waist of Jake’s pants, undoing the button and unzipping the fly. She slid her hand into the waistband of his boxers, grazing his dick softly. Jake moaned in approval at the contact. Amy continued to stroke, moving her hand faster up and down his member.

“Stop,” Jake groaned out, pushing her hands away. He pulled at Amy’s pants.

“Take these off,” he adoringly ordered as he hurriedly removed his own pants.

Each removing their pants and underwear, throwing them to the side of the bed, they stared at each other, breathing heavily. Jake was hard and eager to be with Amy. For a quick moment, he became worried that this was too fast.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked, making sure Amy was okay, that she wasn’t feeling rushed or pressured into being with him.

“I want you,” Amy replied. She took his face in her hands again, staring longingly into his eyes. “I want you – all of you – now.”

Amy kissed him again, though this time slowly and passionately.

“Jake,” she whispered as she pulled away. Jake watched Amy lay herself onto the bed. He hovered over her, his hands holding his body up on either side of her head. Slowly, he lowered himself down, pressing gentle kisses to her forehead, her cheeks, her mouth.

“Jake,” Amy whispered again, reaching around his body and pulling him down onto her.

Carefully, Jake entered Amy, first slowly thrusting, then increasing the speed as she groaned, moaned, louder and louder.

“Jake,” Amy screamed out as she orgasmed.

Hearing her call out his name as she came, excited Jake, and soon he was coming along with her.

As he came down from the high, Jake collapsed on top of Amy, breathing heavily as he lay on her, still inside her.

“That was…” Amy started to say, while she stroked his hair and pressed kisses to his head.

“…amazing,” Jake stated, finishing Amy’s sentence.

“Absolutely,” Amy concurred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, so sorry for taking so long to post. 
> 
> I hope this chapter was okay - I don't feel 100% comfortable writing sex scenes, but I felt like that was where the story was going I hope its okay.


	13. ...and Amy

Jake put the last book from the box on the shelf, where it belonged (alphabetically, by last name, of course). He picked up the box, pulled the tape off, and broke it down. He tossed it onto the tower of broken-down boxes piled up next to the door. The box landed on the top of the pile, which immediately started to wobble, eventually toppling down, boxes scattering across the floor. 

“Crap,” Jake mumbled to himself as he stared at the mess on the floor. For one beautiful moment, his new apartment had been perfectly put together, pristinely clean. And in one swift fall, that image was erased. He knew that picking up the boxes and taking them down to the garbage room in the basement would restore the apartment back to the perfect image it had been seconds earlier. But, after spending the last 36 hours packing, moving and unpacking, he really didn’t have the energy to move another inch. He shrugged and collapsed onto the couch, muttering, “Fuck it.”

“Finished!” Jake called out, still not moving. He heard cabinets and drawers being opened and closed in the kitchen. Soon the smell of cupcakes swept into the room. Jake took a deep breath, taking in the delicious scent, and sat up to see what was going on.

“Surprise!” Amy said, entering the living room with a cupcake on a plate and a candle stuck inside it.

“What’s this for?”

Amy set the plate on the coffee table in front of Jake.

She walked over to the record player and put a record on. “ _I’ll light the fire. You place the flowers in the vase that you bought today_ …” sung out Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

As the music played, Amy took a seat next to Jake on the couch. She pulled a book of matches out of her pocket. She pulled a match out, struck it, and lit the candle. “We’re celebrating.”

Jake leaned his head to the side and scrunched up his face, confused. “My birthday? No, wait, it’s too early for that,” he said, shaking his head. “The new apartment?”

Amy shook her head. “Well yes. But also…” Amy stopped, looking a little embarrassed.

“Go on,” Jake encouraged.

Amy paused before continuing. “Well…Exactly one year ago today, we slept with each other for the first time.”

Jake smiled and nodded, thinking back to the beautiful memory.

Amy leaned over and placed a kiss on Jake’s cheek.

Jake beamed “That is reason to celebrate.”

He leaned forward and blew out the candle. “Is a candle really necessary if it isn’t someone’s birthday?” he pondered out loud as he sat back up.

“I don’t know,” Amy shrugged. “So, what did you wish for?”

“If I tell you, it won’t come true.”

“That’s only for birthday wishes. You have to tell your girlfriend about your anniversary wish,” Amy stated, confidently.

Jake laughed. “Well then…I wished to be as happy with you for the next 100 years as I was one year ago and have been every day since.”

Amy sniffled. “Jake, that was so sweet.”

Jake looked Amy in the eyes, watching as tears slowly fell down her cheek. He gulped, feeling panicked.

“Those are happy tears, right?”

Amy nodded. “Of course,” she reassured him, immediately making him feel better.

Amy leaned forward and kissed Jake. He returned the kiss, feeling elated. He couldn’t help but smile against her lips.

Amy pulled away. “I think we should go break in our new bed,” she whispered.

Jake nodded in agreement. “Yes! Mattress Trampoline!” he sung.

Amy laughed and shook her head.

Jake smiled, catching his mistake. “Nope. You meant sex.”

Amy nodded. “I meant sex,” she confirmed. “But, maybe afterwards, then mattress trampoline?”

“Yes!”

Amy stood up and made her way down the hallway. Jake watched as she took her shirt off, stopping briefly to throw it back to him with a wink and a seductive grin, before continuing her way down the hall, shimmying out of her pants.

Jake took a look around his new apartment. _Their_ new apartment.

It was perfect; from his _Die Hard_ poster hanging up over the couch to the collection of antique spoons displayed in the kitchen, from the mini basketball hoop on the back of the bedroom door to the yoga mat laid out at the foot of their bed, from the extra mini fridge in the kitchen stocked full of craft beers to the bookshelves overflowing with books, it was a perfect representation of both of them.

A year and a half ago, he had moved into an apartment with his best friend and her two roommates. He had planned on staying for only a few weeks. He ended up staying for a year and a half. Even better, he ended up meeting the love of his life.

“… _Life used to be so hard. Now everything is easy cause of you,_ ” Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young continued to sing out.

There was truth to their words. Before Amy, Jake was abandoned by his father, raised by a single mother who sometimes struggled to put food on the table or even be there to celebrate Thanksgiving.

But with Amy, he was creating a new family – one that he could count on, one that would always support him and be there for him.

Everything was easy now. And, it was because of Amy. 

Jake stood up, “I’ll be right there,” he called down the hall.

He walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out a bin of mementos that he had collected over the years – prom pictures, concert tickets, seashells, and other little keepsakes. He reached into the bin, feeling around for a small velvet box that he had added to the bin a few weeks ago. Finally, he found it, wrapping his hand around it and pulling it out. He opened the box, revealing the engagement ring his mother had passed down to him. Jake smiled. He closed the box and put it in his pocket.

Jake walked over to the record player, taking in the last chords of the song that so perfectly vocalized exactly how he was feeling right now. He walked back to the coffee table, grabbing the cupcake. He pulled the candle out, laying it down on the plate, and took a large bite out of the cupcake.

“Coming,” he called out, his mouth full of cupcake, as he made his way to the bedroom, excited to start his life with Amy.   

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from the song "Our House" by Crosby, Stills, and Nash.
> 
> Rating and tags may change as I write more.


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